FREE FROM DISEASE

Auckland Star, Volume LXXV, Issue 251, 23 October 1944, Page 3

FREE FROM DISEASE

BIRTHS ON MAKOGAI

It is not generally known that children born of leprous mothers are, in almost all cases, born free from the disease. Altogether about twenty births have taken place at Makogai, and in all cases the mothers were with child when received at the station. The sexes are strictly segregated here, and this has contributed in no small degree to the numerous cures that have taken place. The latest birth was that of an Indian » girl, born about three months after the mother's arrival. The father of the child, a planter on an island in Fiji, was rather disturbed in mind, and sent the following note to the medical superintendent: "Please send rhy child by the first mail." Later he visited the leprosarium, saw his daughter, and, seeing nothing but a bundle of smiles, asked the nursing sisters to continue to look after her. This they are d6ing. The mother is thus able to see her child once a month, and has an added incentive to accept treatment more cheerfully in the hope of returning to family life again. The valiant nursing staff at Makogai find it necessary to change their white uniforms several times a day when they are engaged in dressing the wounds of the patients. It is to the great credit of this establishment that since the opening of the station, 33 years ago, no nursing sister has contracted the disease. This achievement, coupled with the large number of cures, abcut one in every four patients, has made Makogai known as one of the best leper stations in the world.