Leprosy survey planned for New Hebrides

Press, Volume CXI, Issue 32703, 4 September 1971, Page 18

Leprosy survey planned for New Hebrides

Nobody knows how many lepers are in the jungles and remote villages of the New Hebrides and the Solomon Islands, but the Lepers’ Trust Board of New Zealand hopes to find out through a survey for which plans have been announced. With the assistance of the World Health Organisation, the board proposes to appoint a leprologist who will make the first survey in these areas for 20 years. Probably he will be engaged in this for two years, and a leprosy control programme will be based on his findings. Dr W. J. Smith, of Christchurch, chairman of the board’s medical advisory committee, described this as one of the most important projects to be undertaken by the board, when reporting to the board’s quarterly meeting.

Recently returned from a visit to Fiji, Dr Smith was one of four board members who have travelled lately in the South Pacific and who reported their observations at the meeting. The other members were the board’s chairman (Mr A, H. T. Rose), *Who inspected hospitals and leprosaria in the New Hebrides and the Solomons before going to Fiji; the Bishop of Christchurch (the Rt Rev. W. A. Pyatt), who toured similar areas; and Dr W. H. McDonald, who spent the first six months of this year on Nuie Island and subsequently visited Samoa and Tonga. First for eight years Mr Rose said that his visit was the first by a board member to the New Hebrides and the Solomons since the board’s founder, Mr P. J. Twomey, was there eight years ago, shortly before his death.

There were weaknesses in administration in the New Hebrides, where government was the joint responsibility of France and Britain, said Mr Rose. Probably it would be some time before the Government would take over all health services in both the New Hebrides and Solomon Islands. Without the assistance of church medical missions, there would be vast tracts of

territory without any health services whatever, said Mr Rose. Members should remember this fact when making allocations. Such projects as the provision of water supplies and the building of clinics and hospitals were essential still for the proper conduct of health services and there was more than ever for the board to do. The primary purpose of Bishop Pyatt’s visit was to attend the celebrations marking the centenary of Bishop Patterson’s martyrdom, but he visited many hospitals, including that at Lolowai, in the New Hebrides, where the matron, his sister, Miss Betty Pyatt, has served for more than 20 years. _■