[1] The Nazareth Hospital project was originally led by Kaloost Vartan with the fundraising support of William Thomson of the 39 Cowgate dispensary.

There, he was moved and inspired by the poor conditions of war, and by the care provided at the hospitals run by Florence Nightingale.

William Burns Thompson, superintendent of the Coogate dispensary, supported him for two years after the original committee dissolved.

[7] The society provided £100 for a few beds for surgical cases, which were installed in the upper room of Vartan’s house.

As the only hospital near Nazareth, these accommodations were obviously insufficient, and Vartan received approval from the EMMS for the purchase for two adjacent houses.

[11] Most nurses and staff were native to Ottoman Palestine, and had minimal English skills, which proved challenging to Vartan and his wife.

[13] Frederick John Scrimgeour succeeded Vartan as the head doctor of the mission, along with two European nurses.

The new hospital was almost complete, when World War I broke out through Europe and the Middle East, and British physicians were ordered to leave Palestine.

[2] While Scrimgeour was stuck in Egypt and unable to return; two nurses from the hospital operated in his rented residence downtown.

By this time, Scrimgeour had retired, and William D. Bathgate and Sister Mary Parkinson had taken charge of the hospital.

Runa Mackay, who joined the mission a few years later, reported that hospital operations were generally uninhibited by the political upheaval, and the majority Arab population of Nazareth remained.

Under his supervision, the hospital installed a modern laundry system, a new outpatient facility, nurses' home and chapel, and new accommodations for staff from 1957 to 1964.

He worked to continue updating the hospital, and oversaw the development of a new maternity clinic, kitchen, and most importantly, the recruitment of specialists to provide dialysis and physiotherapy.

This, in addition to a strike by Israeli doctors in 1983, caused a massive influx in patients, leaving the hospital once again inadequate.

[21] In 1984, a delegation from Edinburgh was sent to review the hospital's operations and establish a plan to accommodate the renewed demand for services.

Fred Aitken was appointed as head the implementation of the plan, which aimed to increase the standards of the facilities, rather than the capacity of the hospital, and had an operating budget of 3.5 million pounds.

For example, in October 2012, the hospital opened a pregnancy and childbirth complex in the nearby village of Umm Al-Fahm.