Annual report on the medical services / Sierra Leone.

  • Sierra Leone. Medical Department.
Date:
[1953]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Annual report on the medical services / Sierra Leone. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    3—POLICY 7. Ministers assumed office in April. The Honourable Dr. M. A. S. Margai, m.b.e. was appointed Minister for Health, Agriculture and Forests. 8. During the year a report was published on The Functions and Finances of District Councils in Sierra Leone ” by H. W. Davidson, Esq., m.b.e. In view of this report District Councils prepared to take over the financial responsibilities of the Protectorate dispensaries and of some of the towns. Non-pensionable employees of the dispensaries and of the maintenance gangs will be transferred to the District Council but pensionable staff will be assigned. 9. The staff position did not permit the planning of any immediate new projects. Tuberculin testing of school children in Freetown continued with the offer of B.C.G. vaccine to the non-immunes. It was considered that a non-specific allergic reaction was responsible for some of the mild responses to the tuberculin test. A number of tuberculin tests have also been made, mostly in children, outside Freetown. Up to the present small surveys have been done in Makeni, Magburaka, Port Loko and Kamakwie where Dr. Benninger of the American Wesleyan Mission kindly made a number of tests. 10. The use of sulphones for the treatment of leprosy has increased and the attendances of lepers for treatment at hospitals and dispensaries have improved. Patients suffering from leprosy still tended to collect at one main mission centre and the hopes expressed in the Annual Report for 1952, that the patients would report to the nearest centre did not materialise. The mission finally assisted by requesting all new patients to bring an identity paper from their District Councils and by treating only those who resided in the mission area. This action has greatly assisted in diminishing the hazards of the public health problem which was being created. 11. Dr. R. C. Muirhead-Thompson visited this territory in order to conduct research in malaria. Owing to unforeseen circumstances this project had to be terminated. 12. The Medical Officers attending courses were successful in obtaining the f.r.f.p.s. Glasgow (p), the d.p.h. and the d.t.m. and Ft., respectively. 13. Dr. E. A. Renner, o.b.e., Director of Medical Services, attended the World Health Organisation Conference on yellow fever at Entebbe. 14. The following distinguished visitors gave valuable advice during their stay in Sierra Leone:— Professor R. W. B. Ellis, o.b.e., m.a., m.d., f.r.c.p., Professor of Child Health, University of Edinburgh. Dr. W. A. McIntosh, Regional Director, Division of Medicine and Public Health of Rockfeller Foundation for Africa and Near East. Dr. J. A. Logan of the Rockfeller Foundation—Public Health Engineer. Dr. J. H. Middlemiss, d.m.r.d., Director of Radiology, The United Bristol Hospitals. Professor IT W. Rodgers, o.b.e., f.r.c.s., Professor of Surgery, Queens University, Belfast. Dr. Neubauer—Tuberculosis Specialist, World Health Organisation, Geneva. Dr. D. C. Wilson, m.d., School of Human Nutrition, Churchill Hospital, Oxford. Major A. C. White Knox, o.b.e., m.c., Surgeon-in-Chief, St. John Ambulance Brigade.