Colonial Window: A View from the Past

John Whyte

This fascinating, multi-layered account explains the reason for Dr Macgregor joining the HM Colonial Medical Service to undertake his period of National Service in Sierra Leone; the clinical challenges he faced as a young medical officer, and how he became a useful practical surgeon able to tackle successfully many surgical and obstetrical emergencies. It recalls a way of life in difficult circumstances. The variety and vibrancy is very much the key to the books appeal as the author chronicles his progress and promotion in the Service. He recalls how he was obliged to take on the administrative responsibility for the medical services in the Solomon Islands, and how this in turn required him to relinquish much of his earlier duties in favour of administering major programmes dedicated to the elimination of such diseases as Yaws & Malaria. The book chronicles the general success of these measures, leading to the elimination of Yaws as a public health problem and to the virtual eradication of malaria from the Solomon Islands for a period of several years and describes field research undertaken in support of these activities. The book concludes with a commentary on the effects of of rapid decolonisation on the developing infrastructure of government medical services in such territories.