Annual report of the Medical Department / Federation of Malaya.

  • Malaya. Medical Department.
Date:
[1950]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Annual report of the Medical Department / Federation of Malaya. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    21/96 (page 7)
    Iu addition to members, the following guests were present at meetings: Eepresentatives of the Director of Medical Services, Singapore, and the Municipal Health Officer, Singapore; Surgeon Commander G.H.G. Southwell-Sander and Surgeon Lt.-Com¬ mander A. Eobinson representing the Eoyal Navy; Colonel P. F. Palmer, A.D.M.S., Malaya District; Professor J. H. Strahan and Dr. W. A. Nicholas of the Department of Social Medicine and Public Health, University of Malaya; Dr. W. Puleston- Jones, Municipal Health Officer, Kuala Lumpur; Dr. E. Calder- wood, Deputy Chief Medical Officer, Penang; Dr. J. F. B. Edeson, Malaria Eesearch Officer, and Mr. E. H. Wharton, Entomologist, of the Tampin Branch of the Institute for Medical Eesearch. Meetings of the Board were held on 4th March, 26th August and 2nd December, 1950. The following is a summary of the subjects discussed by the Board in 1950. 19. Judging from hospital admissions, the incidence of malaria was even lower than in 1949. This decrease was general throughout the country, but there is some possibility that it is more apparent than real, as pressure on hospital accommodation may have resulted in malaria cases being treated as out-patients, instead of being admitted to hospitals. The case mortality rate shows a slight increase from 2.1 per cent, in 1949 to 2.7 per cent, in 1950. In the past, the incidence of malaria has shown a tendency to fluctuate in unison with the activity of the rubber industry. 20. Proguanil (Paludrine): (а) In Malaria prophylaxis.—The use of proguanil for the prophylaxis of malaria in Malay School children was described by Dr. M. I. Mohamed, Health Officer, Selangor Coast, and Dr. E. Calderwood, Deputy Chief Medical Officer, Penang. Provided that the teachers took an interest in the work and administered the drug regularly, doses of 100 mg. proguanil weekly were sufficient to produce a considerable fall in parasite and spleen rates. Proguanil is widely used throughout Malaya as a suppressive drug, and where dosage is regular the results have been generally satis¬ factory. Haphazard and irregular dosage with any suppressive drug is unlikely to be effective in preventing malaria, but with proguanil this practice carries the special risk that it may facilitate the development of proguanil-resis¬ tant strains of malaria parasites. (б) In Malaria therapy.—The occurrence of such proguanil-resistant strains of P. falciparum in the Tampin area of Negri Sembilan was mentioned in the Annual Eeport for 1949.