ISLANDERS AS SURGEONS.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXXVII, Issue 4, 31 July 1918, Page 3

ISLANDERS AS SURGEONS.

The Now Zealand Government, which has some difficult problems in the direction of providing medical services in" certain of the Pacific Islands which it administers, may - a interested in an experiment which has been, made by tbe Gilbert Island Administration (writes the Sydney correspondent of the Wellington Post). There are in the Gilbert Islands seventeen atolls, on each of which there is a fairly large community. The islands are so far apart that it ia difficult to communicate readily with most of them. The natives, like most of those in th#South Seas, arc very subject, to many minor forms of sickness which, failing adequate treatment, are liable to end fatally. In addition, there is a fair proportion of surgical cases. There should be three European doctors for this group, but, owing to war conditions, there is only one, and he could not he all over the group at once, as the calls on his services suggested was necessary. i So the Administration established a hospital on each island, very simply equipped, and trained native "dressers." The latter were taken from among the most intelligent youths, were given a sort of first nid course and graded into throe classes. A first-class dresser, aided by a thirdclass dresser and some police boys, was put in charge of th« larger hospitals, a second-class man in charge of smaller hospitals, and so on. In each of the three most important hospitals was placed a native surgeon. The Gilbertese were not sufficiently advanced for this, and one Fijian and two Tongans, each of whom had had a high school education, were selected. They were given instruction in how to treat the forms,of sickness which aro commonest and most easily recognised, and were shown how to carry out simple operations, like amputating a limb, dressing a severe wound, or setting a broken bone. They were also shown how to give anaesthetics. The experiment has proved a remarkable success. Tlie white doctor visits the hospitals as often as possible and treats difficult cases, but ■the dressers and native surgeons have proved themselves capable of treating sucessfully all minor ailments. They cannot make a difficult diagnosis, of course, but they are careful, devoted to their duties, and scrupulously observe all the rules of hygiene. Thug much saving of life has been effected.