KEPT TOO LONG

Evening Post, Volume CXXXIX, Issue 100, 30 April 1945, Page 4

KEPT TOO LONG

N.Z. AIRMEN IN INDIA

MEDICAL OFFICER'S OPINION P.A. AUCKLAND, April 30,

The opinion that the present tour of duty for Air Force personnel in India, three years for married and four years for single men, was too long was expressed by Wing Commander J. Garfield Stewart, M.C., R.A.F., of Takapuna, who. has returned after five years' service overseas.

Well known as a physician in civilian life, Wing Commander Stewart added that the incidence of sickness in India was higher than in any other place in the world. As senior medical officer of a group which covered a large number of stations spread over 500,000 square miles, Wing Commander Stewart had a unique opportunity of studying the effects of the climate on the health of the men. He said that it had been well proved that well over 90 per cent, of the casualties were due to sickness.

"We have found the incidence of sickness to more than double itself each year and it is not an economical proposition to keep men there for' three and four years, let alone six years in the Army," said Wing Commander Stewart. "The Americans only keep their men there for 12 to 18 months, and that is quite long enough in a country where the rate of sickness is extremely high. If the tour of duty were reduced there would not only be less sickness but the men would be

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