£600,000 For Central Pacific

Medical Services

Great Plan of Public Health and Native Training Based on Suva

THE biggest plan yet made in con nection with native health, medical services and hospital estab lishments in the Pacific Territories is now being put into operation by the British Colonial Office, through Major- General Sir Philip Mitchell, Governor of Fiji and High Commissioner for the Western Pacific.

In this matter, the Governments of Fiji, Tonga, Gilbert and Ellice Colony, Solomon Islands and New Hebrides are acting in co-operation with the Government of New Zealand, which controls the administrations of Western Samoa and the Cook Islands.

Sir Philip Mitchell has been in New Zealand, in consultation with the authorities there.

The plan is thus summarised: Medical Group Centre There is to be built, in or near Suva, on a new site: A new hospital, with an Obstetric Department; A Medical School, where the present system of training Native Medical Practitioners for all the Pacific Ter ritories may be carried on and extended, both as to number of pupils trained, and the extent of training; A Nursing School, where the system of training young native women as nurses for the native communities may be greatly extended, especially in relation to obstetrics.

Public Health Centre The present War Memorial Hospital in Suva, opened in 1923, to serve the needs of Suva town; to provide new administrative headquarters for the Medical Department of Fiji, where the whole machinery of public health in Fiji and adjacent islands will be controlled and organised; to provide an Out-patients Department.

Isolation Hospital Facilities to be provided for the treat ment of infectious diseases by tak ing over one of the existing military hospitals.

Regional Hospitals There are to be established four regional hospitals in Fiji—one each at Lautoka, Labasa, Taveuni and Levuka. The old Provincial hospitals are to be kept “usable,’’ for handling epidemics and for the general assist ance of the Fijian people- For the above purposes, the Imperial Government has provided a free grant of nearly £500,000 from the Colonial Development and Welfare Fund.

Anti-tuberculosis Preliminary investigations are to com mence at once; and as soon as experts are available, a complete survey is to be made of the position in rela tion to TB in Fiji and all the West ern Pacific Commission Territories, so as to decide upon the most effec tive steps .to be taken. To cover the costs of this investigation, the Imperial Government, from the same Fund, has made a free grant of £28,600..

Anti-malaria Owing to development of air transport, the risk of the anopheles mosquito, and malaria, being introduced to Fiji

has greatly increased. A campaign to control mosquito breeding-places in Fiji, and especially to keep out the anopheles, will be instituted.

To cover the cost of this work, the Imperial Government has made available, from the same Fund, a free grant of £64,000 sterling. mHE foregoing announcements repre- JL sent developments of plans which have been under consideration in Fiji and in the British Colonial Office for some time.

In 1943, at the request of Sir Philip Mitchell, Dr, M. H. Watt, New Zealand Director-General of Health, and Miss M.

I. Lambie, New Zealand Director of Nursing, made an investigation of the public health and medical services in Fiji. They submitted, in August, 1943, a valuable report, in which they exam ined every aspect of the medical services, medical education, public health educa tion and probable future medical develop ments in the South Pacific- Their com ments on the system of training native medical practitioners and native nurses in Suva, for service in all the South Paci fic Territories, were particularly helpful.

Their report was submitted to the Gov ernor of Fiji at the end of August, 1943.

That quick-moving gentleman lost no time. Within a few weeks, Dr. V. W.

T. McGusty, CMG (who, as Director of Medical Services in Fiji, has had much to do with the development of this plan) was on his way to London with a copy of the Watt-Lambie report. He spent some weeks in London.

It was reported, when he passed through the United States in January last, on his return to Fiji, that the Imperial Government might make £600,000 available for a great public health plan in the South Pacific. The figures then appeared fantastic. How could John Bull, fighting hard in the

greatest war in history, find £600,000 for nealth services for Pacific natives?

But the report was true. Speaking in the Legislative Council of Fiji on Feb ruary 23, Dr. McGusty gave the fore going details of his extraordinarily suc cessful mission- At the same time, he explained the whole of the proposals in detail,, and supplied a valuable history of the Fiji Medical School and Nurses School, where native medical practition ers and nurses have been trained.

Dr. McGusty’s address has been printed and copies should be available at the Government Printing Office, Suva. rE plan necessarily is in two divi sions—the part which provides for the domestic requirements of Fiji; and the part which maxes the Fiji medi cal organisation and institutions avail able for the training of medical officers and nurses for the whole of the Pacific Territories. The first part affects only Fiji; the second part is of the greatest interest to every Pacific Administration.

The plans which have been made —and which now, in spite of the handicaps of wartime conditions, are being given effect to —mean that Fiji must become a not able centre of specialised training in tropical medicine and public health hygiene, and it should be the place to which every South Pacifio Administra tion will turn, as a matter of course, when it needs assistance in relation to the health of the native peoples. Suva will make available to all the South Pacific Administrations the services of the following three institutions —namely— The Central Medical School, where Native Medical Practitioners will be trained; The Nursing School, for the training of Native Nurses; The Leper Hospital at Makogai, where lepers from all over the Pacific are received and cared for; and these institutions, under the plan outlined, now will have the benefit of (a) the best available type of modern buildings, (b) the most modern equip ment, (c) specialists who are to be selected on account of their knowledge of tropical diseases, (d) men who have long experience in teaching selected native men and women to become medical practitioners and nurses.