In the late afternoon of August 18, 1945, twelve persons with
burns were wheeled into Nanmon Military Hospital, Taihoku, Taipei,
shortly after a message reached the duty doctor that a
Japanese bomber carrying them had crashed at a nearby
aerodrome.
One of the victims, a well-built Indian, had burns all over
his body, heart and face, and he was in a critical condition.
The Medical Officer at the hospital, Capt T Yoshini, was told
that the man was Indian leader "Chandra Bose", who
along with his adjutant Col Habibur Rehman and 11 Japanese officers
were on a flight to an undisclosed destination.
Dr Yoshini had at the time Dr T Tusuruta and another doctor
to assist him, besides a dozen Japanese and Formosan nurses.
Dr Tusuruta bandaged the Indian leader, while Capt Yoshini gave
him four shots of vita-camphor and two injections of digitamine
to stabilize his heart. Capt Yoshini also gave him three intravenous
injections of Ringer-solution of 500 cc each to prevent infection.
The treatment was initially given in the dressing room, and
later, Bose was moved to ward No. 2 for further treatment. Bose
and Col Rehman were in the same ward. Towards 5 p.m., Bose was
given a blood transfusion to relieve the pressure on his heart.
The blood was taken from a Japanese soldier in the Nanmon Army
Hospital.
Initially, Bose seemed to respond to the treatment. He remained
conscious and even asked for water occasionally. To communicate
better with the hospital staff, an interpreter, Juichi Nakamura,
was sent for to assist him. (Bose and Col Rehman had known Nakamura
as he was their interpreter on several occasions, during their
stop over in Taipei on their trips between Southeast Asia and
Japan.
About 7.30 p.m., Dr Tusuruta noticed that Bose's pulse count
had dropped. He hurriedly gave Bose injections of vita-camphor
and digitamine but his heart and pulse beat kept falling, and
he died about 2300 hrs, according to Dr Yoshini's statement
recorded by the British in Hong Kong's Stanley Jail on October
19, 1946.
Capt Youshini later wrote Netaji's death certificate: "Writing
his name in Japanese (kata kana) as "Chandra Bose"
and giving the cause of his death as 'burns of third degree'."
(According to a version, the death certificate was written on
August 20, 1945, after the Japanese government retracted its
decision to send Bose's body to Tokyo.)
At that time, there were seven persons in the room: Dr Yoshini,
Dr T Tusuruta, two nurses, Col Habibur Rehman, J Nakamura (interpreter)
and a medical orderly (Kazo Mitsui)
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