Dr. Elias al-Khoury, Minister of Health and Public Assistance, Inscribes the Lebanese Woman's Name in the Roll of Honor

His Excellency the Minister of Health and Public Assistance chose the day marking the passage of fifty years since the birth of the idea of 'combating tubercular diseases,' and delivered a valuable lecture, supported by documents, texts, and precise statistics, on tuberculosis, the victims of tuberculosis, and the labors of the men and women of good works, Franks and Lebanese, who strove all their lives to keep from the girls and young men of Lebanon the dangers of that cruel enemy: tuberculosis!

It is said in the noble words:

Cast your bread upon the face of the waters, and you shall find it after many days!

And so we heard the Doctor-Minister shake out from under the dust of the days yellowed papers holding much about the Lebanese woman's struggle against tuberculosis. He recalled her entry, in the year 1908, into the men's association formed at that time, which bore fruit in the hospital of Dahr al-Bashek and the outstanding men who labored in it, foremost among them Beirut's lamented son, the late Habib Bey Trad; and he recalled the founding of the Women's Association for the Relief of the Consumptive and its great president, Catherina Khoury, who sacrificed for the consumptives her money, her health, and her time.

And he recalled the first nucleus of nurses and visitors who began their glorious work — the nursing of the consumptive poor in their homes — long ago, in 1912, when the number of nurses in this whole East did not exceed a few dozen: the ladies Marie Abi Hamad, Rose Banayot, and Loulou Kanaan.

He closed his lecture with these words:

Today we celebrate the passing of fifty years since the founding of the first association for combating tuberculosis. In the name of Lebanon I send a salute of esteem to the souls of the women and men who took part in any branch of the fight, and I thank the living who carry on their noble mission for the good of humanity.