Resurrecting Medical Equipment from New

Guinea's Jungles

X-ray engineer, Mr. Malcolm

Rae, who is a member of the

staff of Watson Victor, Ltd., Sydney,

recently spent four months in New Guinea, on business. He has some thing to say about the “rehabilitated ” townships, and the utilisation of

medical equipment left behind by the

fighting services of three countries —

America, Australia and Japan.

MY arrival at Port Moresby by plane from Sydney was at a time when there was no meat (fresh or frozen), no white flour, no benzine, no sugar, and relatively few of the luxury items that make life more tolerable in the tropics.

This state of affairs had already pre vailed for upwards of a month, although Port Moresby, being the centre of Ad ministration and nearest port to Austra lia, is probably the best catered for of all the Papua-New Guinea ports. Most of the shipping from the mainland first calls at Port Moresby before going on to other discharging places.

Rabaul, was probably the most deso lated of all the areas visited. The Army was still represented, but in numbers that catered only for the personnel necessary for War Crimes trials and for the custody of War Criminals.

The European and Asiatic population at Rabaul and environs created heavy de mands on the imported food supplies which are essential until primary pro duction is placed on an efficient basis.

Consider the cargo space required to bring in the needs of 500 Europeans, 2,000 Asiatics plus numbers of war criminals who are fed on Australian rice instead of the outsize, edible snails which the Japs

imported for emergency food and which m the interim have over-run large areas.

There are also several hundred Chinese Army personnel who have to be catered for.

Lae, at present, is considered one of the less desirable apnointments amongst the Administration personnel. Lae, however, is close to the goldfields at Bulolo and Wau, where exists the present most pro fitable source of income for New Guinea.

Madang appears to be one of the places that has lent itself to more rapid re habilitation and stands in a really lovely tropical-island setting. The roads around Madang are relatively good and the port seems to be going ahead. There is a good wharf with, usually, several coasting vessels alongside, and often a Catalina aircraft is seen transporting native labour from one location to another. Those plantations not extensively war-damaged seem to be going ahead and a factory on modern lines is being built for the processing of coconut products.

Samarai, in Papua, is worth mention ing, as it once was regarded as “The Pearl of the Pacific” by pre-war tourists.

At present it is populated by a small group of people who make up in hospi tality what they lack in numbers.

Samarai was a flying base during the war, and during that time half of the island was levelled off by bulldozers.

Where two popular hotels once stood there are now temporary trading sheds constructed from left over war materials.

IT was, however, surplus war equipment which mainly concerned me and was the reason for my visit to New Guinea.

Considerable hospital and medical equipment, including X-ray apparatus,

has been taken over from the Services by the New Guinea Department of Public Health for utilisation in expanding and re-establishing the Administration’s Medical and Health services. This equip ment comprised the many essentials that go to make up the various services medi cal units, and in most cases it was col lected at central receiving stores or dis pensaries at Port Moresby, Lae and Rabaul. The equipment at Port Moresby was accessible to transport and was used to equip the centres first re-established in Pdpua. The climate at Port Moresby, it must be remembered, is not truly tropical and is not dissimilar to that of the Northern Territory of Australia. As a result this equipment was reasonably well preserved and suffered only from the usual effects of use and handling.

The equipment at Lae and Rabaul, on the other hand, had first of all to be found and sorted out. This was not easy.

Although collected together in extensive stores, the essentials of the various types of eauipment had to be segregated from other items contained in hundreds of cases and dumps of all shaoes and sizes.

Because the equipment had been lying around, for some time, and because of the effects of tropical climate, there was greater depreciation, than in the Port Moresby area.

X-ray equipment which had been located and out into service was of several Australian makes, plus some US Army apparatus and accessories, and even some Japanese incomplete types.

Interesting minor technical problems included the infestation of apparatus with the nests of wasps and other insects which appeared to have a particular liking for the more intricate and delicate parts of X-rav machines and the effects of tropical sea-air and humidity.

Only Port Moresby and Rabaul had sufficient electric power to energise an X-ray plant to its capacity and even at these two places the engineers experi enced great in maintaining all power required for various purposes.

Most of the hospitals where the equip ment was to be put into use consist of buildings erected during the war years by the Services. With black iron roots and sisalcraft walls their life will only be another year or two at the most.