Doctor sent to Bong Son

Press, Volume CXI, Issue 32778, 1 December 1971, Page 18

Doctor sent to Bong Son

IN.Z.PJi. Staff Correspondent, SAIGON, November 30. A Vietnamese doctor today flew from Saigon to Bong Son Hospital, where a New Zealand combined services medical team is about to be withdrawn after four years service.

He is the first doctor South Vietnam’s Health Ministry has posted to Bong Son, about 320 miles north-east of Saigon, since the New Zealanders arrived. New Zealand officials in Saigon regard the doctor’s

posting as a major advance in their attempts to turn over responsibility to the Vietnamese before the team’s withdrawal. But it is known they would have liked to see at least two doctors posted to Bong Son before they left.

The New Zealand team, originally 18 men, was reduced to 12 about a year ago; and nine, including three doctors and four medical corps men, have remained until now.

Bong Son is in Binh Dinh province, about 60 miles north of Qui Nhon where a New Zealand civilian surgical team has been based since 1963. The hospitals at Qui Nhon and Bong Son are the only hospitals in the province, which has more than a million people. ARMY’S CALLS ' Because most Vietnamese doctors have been serving in the army, the Ministry of Health has previously allocated only two doctors to Binh Dinh, both have been based at Qui Nhon. When the Prime Minister (Sir Keith Holyoake) announced in August that the team would be withdrawn from Bong Son before the end of the year, he said the main reason was New Zealand’s difficulty in finding doctors to serve in Vietnam. Previous,attempts to “Vietnamise.” ti# hospital by train-

ing local staff had been frustrated when newly trained medical assistants were drafted into the army. The New Zealand team, headed by Lieutenant-Colonel J. W. Ardagh, of Christchurch is expected to return home within the next two weeks.