CO129-592-1 Reports on current situation- medical work 3-11-1945 - 7-3-1946 — Page 51

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for use in the camps. but I do know that without assistance he was able to take from a Japanese officer a sufficient supply of this powder to last all the camps for at least 21 years. Quantities of this powder have at different times been sent to all camps and has been instrumental in the saving of many lives, especially in the Prisoner-of-War Camps. Small quantities were also given to ex Hong Kong Government and other trustworthy doctors in charge of the civilian hospitals for use among indigent patients.

I am not certain of the actual details,

On another occasion he obtained permission for me to visit the Queen Mary Hospital accompanied by one of our pharmacists (who has since escaped) and a Japanese officer. We were then able to remove certain essential medicines which were sent to Stanley Camp. In another instance a raid was made on a Chinese godown in which was stored large quantities of medicines belonging to the Foreign Auxiliary. Under the eyes of the Japanese Authorities, Dr. Selwyn-Clarke accompanied by a party of truck drivers, visited the godown in question and removed several truck loads of essentials, the most important of which being a very large number of ABCD Vitamin pills which have proved of so much value in the camps.

I would add at this point that it is to be hoped that supplies, however small, will continue to be sent to the camps and to civilian hospitals. Dr. Selwyn-Clarke's arrest will have considerable repercussions in town and in the camps,

but it is fortunate he made many contacts and that these will continue to function on a small scale even without his driving power and guidance. Before our internment, in the week following his arrest, we were able to make certain arrangements which, if successful, will mean that further supplies of the essential B.1 powder will reach the camps, etc.

The balance of this powder, less 450 grams brought into this Camp with us, has been left in the hands of two very courageous and willing helpers.

Details regarding supplies of drugs to camps are set out under the headings concerned and no further mention of them will be made here. It should be noted, however, that funds for the purchase of even essential drugs were not available until May, 1942. Payments for these drugs were not taken over by the I.R.C. until the end of 1942, and even then Mr. Zindel would do little to assist in the despatch of medicines to the Military Camps.

(iii) Clinics and Dispensaries.

It was not until the Autumn of 1942, after having as usual to prepare all the necessary details, that he was able to persuade the Japanese to reopen the many clinics and dispensaries previously functioning for the poor in the many districts of the Colony. With a population at that time of just under 1,000,000 thousands of indigent persons would still be without medical treatment had he not made this arrangement, but these clinics, etc., naturally are not as well run as in the past. The question of V.D. clinics was also a problem but these were finally opened one month before his arrest, after he had spent much time in writing long articles on each of the different venereal diseases. Articles of this nature were very necessary if the inefficient head to the Japanese Medical Department was to be persuaded to do something which might benefit anyone who was not Japanese.

(iv) Charitable Institutions.

The reopening and proper functioning of these

institutions/