AN OCEAN PARADISE.

Auckland Star, Volume LVIII, Issue 115, 18 May 1927, Page 18

AN OCEAN PARADISE.

HOME FOR PACIFIC LEPERS.

OVER THREE HUNDRED PATIENTS. •

REMARKABLE SUCCESS IN CURES.

(From Our Own Correspondent.)

SUVA, May 3.

One of the most charming islands of the Pacific is Makogai, the Leper Station of the Pacific. The island is a real gem, with a wealth of green foliage and glistening white sandy beaches, which make a picture which must be seen to be appreciated. There are two islands — Makogai and Makodraga —which lie about 18 miles from the old capital of Fiji—Levuka. Makogai contains about 2000 acres. Makodraga is a rocky jungle covered islet, Makogai is about two and a-half miles long and one and a-half miles broad, and is surrounded by coral reefs. It is a hilly island with some 358 acres capable of growing coconuts, but only about 100 acres fit for general crops. The climate is ideal, the temperature varying little and seldom goes below* 70 degrees. The date of the first appearance of leprosy in Fiji is unknown, its origin is wrapped in the mists of antiquity. Segregation of lepers in this and neighbouring groups is compulsory, and each leper has to be certified to by two medical men. Lepers are now sent to Makogai from Fiji, New Zealand, Samoa, Tonga, Nuie, and Cooks, and the "Gilberts and Ellice" colony is making similar arrangements. Lepers were first sent to Makogai in 1911 when 40 were sent-from a segregation camp on Beqa. Since then the collection has been steadily growing until at date there are 327. Admissions since 1911 have been 954. The following table just issued gives in detail the various races and numbers of the patients: Europeans, 4 males and 1 female; half-castes, 4 men and 2 women; Samoans, 8 men and 5 women; Fijians, 100 men and 38 women; Rotumans, 7 men and 4 women; Solomon Islanders, 46 men and 6 women; Chinese, 11 men; Indians, 41 men and 14 women; Maoris, 4 men; Niue Islanders, 1 man and 1 woman; Cook Islanders, 17 men and 13 women. All lepers capable of doing so must do certain work. They must keep their quarters clean and do their share of the sanitary work of the establishment, and also do a few hours every week weeding the paths from their villages to the hospital. There are five leper villages with the hospital for women, the helpless and those acutely ill. Each nationality has its own village and the sexes are kept separate. The medical superintendent .appoints a headman to each village. He is paid a small sum by the Government and is responsible for the cleanliness of his village and the good behaviour of its inhabitants. There is a banking system and patients are encouraged to save from their wages and from gifts visitors bring them. They have a co-operative store of their own. Each year the profits of some £150 is divided among the patients. An appeal is made yearly for a Christmas Day Fund and the response is so splendid that every patient has as much as he or she can use. The staff of the station is composed of a medical superintendent, a lay superintendent, 12 European sisters, eight native sisters, an overseer and a launch driver. It is not so long ago that the motto, "Abandon hope all ye who enter here," could well apply to Makogai, but to-day how pleasantly different is the picture. Owing to the forward development of science, it is safe to predict that if a case be taken in its early stages, a cure can be expected. The patient gets all the requisites for recovery outside the necessary drugs, namely fresh air, nutrition, regulated exercise, and amusement. There are all the latest gramophone records available for all. The chaulmoogric series of cures are working wonders. The specific treatment has a marked and beneficial effect, especially in the early, but also in all stages of thedisease. Certain forms of the chaulmoogra are injected daily into all the patients, while daily doses it chaulmoolgra oil are given by the mouth; up to the point of tolerance. Quite a number of patients have been cured, Sir George Richardson was greatly pleased when he returned from the commission to Hebrides to find that he could take back with him a Samoan chief who had been a patient at Makogai for years, and who was going home to his family quite cured. < Sir -George visited the station and when he returned to Suva, he spoke most warmly of all he saw and said nothing could have been more excellent than the system he saw used. The patients also have plenty of amusement in fishing, model yacht-sail-ing, native dances and other gentle exercises, as violent exercise is discouraged in every way. There are wild fowl in the bush and plenty of wild pigeons, while several brilliantly coloured species of doves fly about the island. Forty large green turtles were caught last year during the fishing season. The island has a 4.oft launch, which makes weekly trips to Levuka for supplies, returning the same day. The appropriation for the asylum in 1926 was £8221. Of the operations only one patient succumbed on the table. There were no fewer than 930,132 dressings during the year. Makogai is a wonderful place and is proving a great boon to the native races of the Pacific Ocean.