Medical School
p. 12 · Read in the full issue
Guam Students for Suva Medical School Why Does Australia Hold Aloof?
THE work of the Suva Medical School, a remarkable institution which trains native medical practitioners from all over the Pacific, was warmly praised by various speakers at the Pacific Islands Club meeting in July; and the principal of the School, Dr, Hoodless, who wa* present as the guest of the Club, told something of the history of the move ment.
In the course of discussion. Dr. Hood less was asked if he could give any ex planation of why Australia has so far refused to co-operate with the Suva Medical School, and has sent no trainees from the Australian Pacific Territories to that institution; but Dr. Hoodless said he could not reply to the question.
Small parlies of Papuan youths have been trained in Sydney for medical work, and some system of training of native youths is carried on in the hospitals in New Guinea; but neither system is com parable with the work that is being done in the Suva Medical School.
Selected natives from the Solomon Is lands and from the New Hebrides (who are of the same Melanesian type as the people of Papua and New Guinea) have Oeen trained in Suva and are doing splen did work in both the Solomons and the New Hebrides, The four years’ course that these selected natives undergo at the Suva Medical School not only gives them a useful knowledge of medicine and simple surgery, it also trains them in hygiene, sanitation and administration, and their work in the native villages in consequence is increasingly valuable.
Furthermore, these young men come to gether in Suva from all parts of the Pacific —Fiji, Samoa, Cook Islands, Tonga, New Hebrides, Solomons, Gilbert and Ellice Group—and in this association they get a new understanding of the fjllture of the Polynesian races, a greater confidence in themselves, and this influence is reflected in better social conditions in the villages where they work.
An interesting development recently is the announcement that the American authorities have approved of the Suva Medical School. A party of selected youths from the American island of Guam is be ing sent to Suva to undergo the 4-years* course in training as native medical practitioners.
This means that the United States is co-operating with the British Colonial Office and the N.Z. Government in this institution; and, naturally, the question is asked, with increasing urgency, why Australia holds aloof.