CONFIDENTIAL
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APPENDIX 3 to ANNEX B
Account of a keeting between Squadron Leader 1. A. McCoubrey, RAF
Senior Medical Officer and Refugee Representatives on 5th January 1979
1.
Squadron Leader McCoubrey had been on the first trip to the Huey Fong as a crew member of a Wessex lielicopter on Christmas Eve when he helped to unload supplies on the ship's stem äock. He said that the refugees then looked fit and behaved in a very quiet and subdued manner. He was impressed by the high quality of the luggage which he observed and by the large number of USAF flight jackets being worn.
2.
He had visited the ship again by Wessex on the night of 1st January 1979 when a mother and baby had been taken off. fie found the attitude of the refugees had changed and that they had become very voluble. He was approached by many people asking to be taken off the ship on medical grounds which he described as "dubious".
3.
On board IIMS Monkton on 5th January he met with the master of Huey Fong, a Doctor (Lang Hiểu Hung), a pharmacist (Cao Tan Phuong) and a nurse (Do Thi Minh). He thought that these three medical personnel were probably what they claimed to be and were reasonably competent.
He got the impression that the death of a ran the previous night had had a bad effect on the morale on board. He was inclined to doubt the quoted figure of 200 babies under the age of one year, and he also considered that the reports of sea-sickness were cxaggerated. However, he accepted the need for regular supplies of baby food and suitable drugs (as described below) and for the continued evacuation of the sick by helicopter. He thought that further deaths would adversely affect the morale of those on board as well as providing an unde sirable form of publicity. He said that it would not surprise him if the death rate was as high as one per week, depending on the state of health of the refugees when they sailed.
The main complaints had been of diarrhoca, skin infections, bronchitis and oedema. The medical personnel told him that they were seeing 200 sick people a day. A lot of the children were complaining
of earache.
The Squadron Leader agreed to recommend the supply of the
following drugs :
(a)
Anti-diarrhoeal tablets (Lomi tol)
(b)
Anti-infective lotions and cream (Savlon/Brulidine)
(c)
A broad spectrum anti-biotic (e.g. Septrin but not ampicillin or tetrasycline).
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