Health And Education In Samoa “Pretty Grim”

Press, Volume CVI, Issue 31187, 11 October 1966, Page 23

Health And Education In Samoa “Pretty Grim”

It is true that condi- , tions in Samoa, particularly in the fields of health and education, are "pretty grim” and a poor advertisment for 50 years of New Zealand administration. Mr B. Turner, of Apia, says in a letter to the editor of “The Press.” Mr Turner referred to comments of the National Com-J missioner of the New Zealand Red Cross Society (Mr; C. McLennan), who was re ported to have said that New Zealand was guilty of much neglect of her administration of the Samoan islands, particuarly in the health field. ; “If Mr McLennan is report-' ed correctly then I think it an exaggeration to say conditions here are worse than in South-east Asia, but it is true that conditions, particularly in the fields of health and education, are pretty grim; and a poor advertisement for 50 years of New Zealand administration,” says Mr Turner.( “It is probably true the I Samoans could and should do more to help themselves, but this does not alter the fact| they need aid and more of it. “I know something of the! health and hospital situation because my wife is sister-in-i charge of the outpatients and! casualty department of Apia General Hospital. The situa-j tion there has to be seen to be believed: not enough doc-1 tors, or trained nurses, and most of the time just no beds to take seriously ill people, I and drastic shortage of medicines and drugs plus a great lack of equipment of all kinds. Many times of late I have seen my wife desperate to find a bed to take a seriously ill patient. “The hospital is almost always full to overflowing. The situation is repeated in all wards, especially in maternity and baby clinic. No matter how hard staff work or how dedicated they are, this cannot and does not make up for lack of beds, medicine, drugs, etc. I would say that in

general what Mr McLennan Is has to say is true and it is I not to the credit of New Zea- 1 land that this is so. ; ? “Economic aid for Samoa isj! something for the Govern- 1 ment to decide and weigh the 1 1 pros and cons but aid in the I s fields of education and health ' are surely matters morally' f binding on New Zealand. The ! i

situations in these fields are largely because of New Zealand neglect and we should give increased aid to the Samoans, in these fields at least. We should do it now. It must come as a shock surely to most New Zealanders that mental patients in Western Samoa are still confined in prison with criminals,” says Mr Turner.