Annual report of the Sarawak Government Medical Department.

  • Sarawak. Medical Department.
Date:
[1954]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Annual report of the Sarawak Government Medical Department. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    9/40 (page 4)
    4 - has supplied in addition large quantities of evaporated whole milk and these free issues help not only directly by addihg to j- 0 he diets of mothers and children, hut also indirectly as a bait to attract them to our clinics. m-v braining of junior staff is one of our biggest problems since there are not enough educated boys and girls as yet leaving schools inSarawak to provide sufficient recruits for the Medical Department, but notable advances have been made during 1954 and we have two complete training schools for nurses (male and female) now in operation, one at Kuching and one at Sibu. At the year end there were a total of 84 pupils in these training schools under instruction. One of the reasons why the training of new staff is assuming such importance in Sarawak is the plan we have for the expansion during the next 5 years of our Medical Services. This plan provides amongst other things for considerable expansion of the hospitals at Sibu and Simanggang and the provision of new hospitals of a cottage type at Sarikei and Bintulu. “hese as well as the proposed increases in the numbers of fixed and travelling dispensaries will all require trained staff so _ ji__ • _ ^ . _ . _i . n _ _ . t i - n . _. _. _ •* our training programme must be pushed as hard as possible. Considerable reliance is also being placed on that the train: ng of under-educated young men and women from the most distant parts of Sarawak as has been mentioned above. A new building for the Medical Department which is being given first priority is the new Mental Hospital. The present mental accommodation at the rear of the G-eneral Hospital, Kuching, is mediaeval although quite a lot of minor work to improve it is going on at the time of writing. we must have a modern Mental Hospital and draft plans for this have already been approved, unless there are unexpected difficulties there is every reason to suppose that this new hospital will be ready for occupation before the middle of 1956, it will be situated about 7 miles out of Kuching, and will provide accommodation for about 200 patients with all the most modern facilities for treatment. Attempts are now being made to recruit from overseas specialist staff for this institution, for a fine new building will be a complete elephant unless the experts become available to run it. whi te Another institution which deserves spec ial mention for the year 1954 is the leper Settlement, 13 miles from Kuching. A big building programme was undertaken successfully during the year, and will continue during 1955 so that all the patients will be housed in new bright clean and airy barrack-type houses. The most marked change in the Leper Settlement during the year however, 'has been less tangible and that is a complete change of atmosphere amongst the inmates who are now no longer prisoners but simply patients as in any other hospital gradually progressing towards a cure. This happy state of affairs has been brought about largely by the use of modem treatments, but other factors have also played a large part. More than 100 patients were discharged to their own homes during the year, and the return of such a large number of ex-lepers to the community in itself presented a special problem which was overcome by making a grand ceremonial affair of the leaving of the settlement by each batch .of patients. Twice during the year there was a grand ceremony like a speech day at school, we had a concert and speeches. His Excellency the Governor himself presented finely printed leaving certificates and the publicity attending these ceremonies completely overcame the reluctance'of the people in the villages to receive back the cured patients.