The man behind

Suva's FSM

Misi Utu: Dr. D. W. Hoodless and the Development of Medi cal Education in the South Pa cific. By Margaret W. Guthrie.

Published by the Institute of Pacific Studies, University of the South Pacific, Suva. Price unavailable.

It would have been quite im possible for Dr. Margaret Guthrie to have written her father’s biography without at the same time relating the his tory of the development of medical education in Fiji, with which the name of David Winn Hoodless is synonymous. The two stories are intertwined.

Hoodless himself, born at the end of the 19th century in

Nottingham. England, found

his way to the Queen Victoria

College, Suva, in 191 1 as an as sistant master, and from there to the Lau provincial school in Lakeba in 1915 where, in this remote situation, he became an expert in the Fijian language

■ and Fijian custom and, finally I found a new interest in the I study of human anatomy and I physiology which made him I determined to study medicine.

He had already, before arriv ■ ing in Fiji, won himself a BSc I in mathematics and had held I academic appointments at the I University of Manchester and I the Nautical Training College, I HMS Worcester.

With the ending of the war [ in 1918. DWH found himself I with two years accumulated leave, during which he went to London and completed the I pre-clinical course in medicine

[ at King’s College Hospital

Medical School.

When he returned to Fiji it I was as superintendent of I schools, and in this position he I made no secret of his convic- I tion that a corps of young I Fijians should be assisted to [obtain an educational and societal background to fit them I for future responsibilities. This I was regarded at that time as an extremely radical view, but Hoodless persisted. and amongst those who benefited I from his foresight were the late Ratu Jone Doviverata (brother ’of the late Ratu Sir Lala Sukuna) and who became the first Fijian graduate in medi cine, from the University of Otago and as Dr. Tom Dovi, a [ much-loved medical officer in

Fiji.

But Dr. Hoodless’ story really starts in 1883, when Dr. (later Sir) William McGregor, chief medical officer of Fiji, i had been so concerned at the [devastating effects of introduced diseases to which the Fijian had no natural immunity, and fearful of a smallpox epidemic which could arise with the continuing influx of Indian migrant labour, conceived the idea of training a few Fijian youths of rank in the elements of the rec ognition and treatment of dis ease, and practical vaccination.

These young men were legally certified as Native Medical Practitioners, and under supervision, sent to re mote areas where their newly acquired knowledge - rein forced by their social status enabled them to give practical, if elementary, treatment, and

to vaccinate the population

against smallpox.

The first NMP’s were cer tified in 1888, and they proved so successful that they were in demand even in neighbouring territories. Over the years the course of training was greatly extended, and the opening ol the Colonial War Memorial Hospital in Suva in 1923 marked a great advance in their

training and the development

of the medical services in Fiji.

About this time. Dr. S. M.

Lambert of the Rockefeller Foundation was working in the South Pacific on public health measures, and was so impres sed by the skilled assistance he received from NMP’s that he suggested a Central Medical School be established in Suva to take young men from all South Pacific territories for training.

With a substantial grant from the Rockefeller Foundation and the support of neighbour ing administrations, the school enlarged. extended and renamed Central Medical School, opened in 1928 with D.

W. Hoodless as its first prin

cipal.

It was in this role that Hoodless’ educational experi ence, his genius for communi cation. and his extrovert personality found their fullest expression, and he, his life’s work.

With students from different

language areas the teaching

had to be in English, and Hoodless not only had the task of organising and running the school, but also of ensuring that the students’ knowledge of

English became adequate for

the basic science course and subsequent clinical instruction at the CWM Hospital. He had by this time married Hilda Adlington, headmistress of the Suva Girls’ Grammar School.

In October 1934. while on leave in England, he completed his qualifying examinations

from Charing Cross Hospital

Medical School, after which he returned to Fiji to continue his work at the Central Medical School until his retirement in 1947. The school continued to expand and instruction was

extended continuously to keep

pace with the increasing complexities of modern medi cine.

The present main building at Tamavua - a gift from the UK Government - was opened by the Queen in 1953, and in 1961 renamed the Fiji School of Medicine, and its qualified students, medical officers.

The progressive develop ment and improvement of the academic instruction brought unexpected problems. On one hand some students com plained that after so long and complete a course they finished not with a degree but a dip loma which is not recognised for general registration outside Fiji (although it is now recog nised by the Australasian Royal Colleges for entry to the

Fellowship Examinations).

On the other hand there was the converse where some students complained that after such a long, technical training they were posted to rural areas or remote islands where they were frustrated and angry that their knowledge and skill did not have, in those situations,

the supporting facilities they

had been trained and taught to use and expect.

From time to time there have been suggestions that the training at the FSM should be up-graded to a degree course, but until now the heavy cost of

establishing a medical faculty

at the young University of the South Pacific has rendered these suggestions unaccept able.

However, presumably in an ticipation of this, in 1975 the Ministry of Health in Fiji, insti tuted a three-year course for medical assistants, and so medical education in Fiji has gone full circle from its origin in 1888. and once again there is established a two-tier stan dard of medical care.

Hoodless retired to Suva and continued a very active life in the educational, medical and social fields, and travelled widely. It was during a visit to England that he died in 1954.

Those of us who knew him are now few, but his work will be remembered not only by the Hoodless House extensions of the FSM at the CWM Hospital, but by this monograph - long overdue and which should be required study for all students at the FSM past, present and future. Leonard Goodman