A MEDICO IN AFRICA

Evening Star, Issue 25776, 26 April 1946, Page 2

A MEDICO IN AFRICA

DUNEDIN GRADUATE'S BIG POST war experiences of colonel McCarthy The commanding officer of No. 1 East Africa General Hospital— art institution with 1,500 beds and a staff of 800 service personnel, and a member of the East African Command Medical Research Committee, Colonel fJ. D. McCarthy, is; at present in Dunedin en furlough. A graduate of the Otago Medical - School, he was seconded from the Colonial Service to the military forces on the outbreak of war, and served with the East African command throughout the African campaign. As one of the eight members or the Research Committee, he participated in decisions as to which line of investigation to pursue, and the co-ordination of the work of various research teams. Colonel"McCarthy was particularly well qualified for this assignment, as he was engaged in research activities into malaria and hookworm diseases for the Colonial Service just before the outbreak of hostilities, and these two complaints were closely studied by the Research Committee's workers.

The wonder drug, penicillin, was made available to the committee fairiy soon after its development, and exhaustive experiments wore made on the more troublesome diseases. So far as the investigations have shown, the drug has no effect dn the protozoal group of diseases, or even on relapsing fever, which is produced by a spirochaeta, similar to that occurring in venereal disease. This last-named complaint reacted remarkably to penicillin, however, and a special hospital for native servicemen was generally filfed with 1,200 patients before the advent of the drug reduced the level to an average of 200. Whether the treatment is of lasting value has not. yet been proven, however. Another successful investigationundertaken by the committee was into the treatment of hookworm, and Colonel McCarthy, " the soldier will achieved will be of lasting benefit to the native population of Africa.' In order to prevent the virus from infectiug the feet of the servicemen, boots were provided for all enlisted personnel, and to-day, according to Colonel McCarthy, '''the soldier will part with anything except his boots." These were manufactured to special order as the outsize splay feet of the natives required sizes between 10 and 14. As part of a trade training scheme to help rehabilitate the demobilised soldier, the vocation of cobbler is by far the most popular. COLOUR BAR, , "So far the agitation by Indians in East to enlist the sympathy of the native » population is not making much headway," said Colonel McCarthy. " The result will depend on the reaction of the Africans themselves, who are being urged to combine with the Indian elements, which are largely Hindu, to oust the Europeans." The agitation has grown noticeably in the last two years, however, while the Indians were working in close collaboration with the Indian National Party in their homeland. Colonel McCarthy, who is returning m two months' time to his present position of commandant of the East Africa Hospital, had a varied war record with the East African Command. After two years with the Abyssinian border patrol, along an 800-mile frontier, ho joined the North Rhodesian Field Ambhlance i n Somaliland, and saw the finish of the Abyssinian campaign. At Gondar, where the Italians " put up a pretty good show," the _ African forces captured several million pounds' worth of medical supplies, which proved a welcome boon to the Middle East fordes, where the stocks were very low. A 5,000-mile trek to Northern Rhodesia Colonel McCarthy regards as a. highlight of his career', and, after further training, he participated in the landing on Madagascar, the Africans following the British Commandos, ashore. He was appointed to the command of a medical training depot in Nairobi before being promoted to hie present position.