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Notes and News

MEDICAL AID FOR NEPAL

THE work of the small team of doctors and nurses whowere sent to Biratnagar in Nepal by the Britain-NepalMedical Trust deserves nothing but admiration. In Julylast year they arrived to find that the town-the secondlargest in Nepal with a population of 100,000 (and a

catchment area of up to double this figure)-had only a36-bed hospital which was appallingly inadequate in spaceand facilities. They have already completed many prac-tical and valuable improvements-two unused rooms havebeen turned into a pathology laboratory, a five-bed chil-dren’s ward has been opened, out-of-date machinery andtechniques in the operating-theatre have been replaced,and a complete note-keeping system has been introduced.Most important of all, they have helped to train local people.Along with all this they have carried out research projectsfor the Royal Society, measuring lung function in variousraces and at varying altitudes, collecting blood samplesfrom a wide selection of ethnic groups, and undertakingsocio-demographic studies in relation to genetic constitu-tion. Projects planned for next year include an infectious-diseases unit and a tuberculosis/leprosy clinic. Thelatter would make possible regular check-ups, adminis-tration of drugs, sputum-cultures, and X-rays. There areabout 5000 in Biratnagar alone with active tuberculosis,which is the region’s largest single problem. But theTrust is a charity and any future plans must depend ondonations. The Trust’s first annual report, which iseminently readable, was published last week.

University of LondonDr. Peter Curzen, reader in obstetrics and gynxcology at

Charing Cross Hospital Medical School, has been appointedto the chair of obstetrics and gynaecology tenable at

Westminster Medical School.Dr. Curzen is 38. Educated at William Ellis School and

University College Hospital,London, he graduated B.SC., withfirst-class honours in 1952, andqualified M.B. three years later.

Subsequently he held two appoint-ments as house-surgeon at

U.C.H., and then took up a shortservice commission with the

Royal Air Force. In 1961 he was

appointed registrar and tutor inobstetrics at the Institute ofObstetrics and Gynaecology at

Hammersmith Hospital. Hebecame M.R.C.O.G. in 1962, and inthe following year he took up thepost of lecturer in obstetrics and

gynaecology at the University ofthe West Indies, being promoted

senior lecturer m 1965. In 1966 he took the M.D. His researchinterests centre on the investigation of factors which disturb thenormal function of the placenta. He is currently engaged on aresearch study into the immunological relationships between theplacenta and the maternal tissues in normal and abnormalpregnancies.The title of reader in virology has been conferred on

Dr. Arnold Cohen in respect of his post at UniversityCollege Hospital Medical School, and the title of reader inhxmatology on Dr. R. G. Huntsman in respect of his postat St. Thomas’s Hospital Medical School.The title of professor of medicine has been conferred on

1. Britain Nepal Medical Trust Ltd., 33 Henrietta Street, LondonW.C.2.

Dr. S. J. G. Semple in respect of his post at St. Thomas’sHospital Medical School.

Dr. Semple, who is 42, went to Westminster School beforestudying medicine at St. Thomas’s Hospital Medical School.After graduating M.B. in 1950, he held house-appointments atSt. Thomas’s, and in 1952 he took the M.D. and M.R.c.p. From1953 to 1955 he served with the R.A.M.C. as a medical specialistin Malaya, and then returned to St. Thomas’s as an assistantlecturer. In 1957 he went for two years to the University ofPennsylvania as an instructor at the medical school. Returningto this country he was appointed lecturer at St. Thomas’s in 1959,senior lecturer in 1961, and reader in medicine in 1965. He waselected F.R.C.P. last year. His main research interest is in thecontrol of respiration in health and disease. Initially this wasconcerned with the role of the C.S.F. in the chemical control ofbreathing; more recently he has concentrated on the developmentof an indwelling arterial pH electrode to study the rapidlyacting component of the respiratory control system.

University of BirminghamDr. D. H. Morgan has been appointed senior lecturer in

psychiatry and Dr. B. W. Codling lecturer in pathology.

Community CareA conference on attachment schemes and their problems

in general practice, and the integration of hospital andcommunity care, is to be held in Edinburgh on Sept. 19and 20. Details may be had from Dr. C. Gibbs, theconference secretary, at the Scottish office of the RoyalCollege of General Practitioners, 39 Cowgate, EdinburghEH1 1JS.

General Medical Council

Dr. Herman Tarnesby and Dr. Parviz Faridian haveappealed against the decision of the Disciplinary Com-mittee of the Council to erase their names from the Register.

Dr. Herbert Talbot (Boston, U.S.A.) is to give two lecturesat the National Spinal Injuries Centre, Stoke Mandeville

Hospital, Aylesbury, on Thursday, Sept. 11. At 11.30 A.M. hewill speak on the patient and bladder management, and at

2.15 P.M. on the salvage of kidney function.The Epilepsy Information Unit is to hold a symposium for

general practitioners at Netherhall House, Nutley Terrace,London N.W.3, on Saturday, Oct. 25, at 10 A.M. Full detailsmay be had from Mr. George Burden at the Unit, 3-6 AlfredPlace, W.C.l.

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CORRIGENDA: The Changing British Drug Scene.-We intro-duced an error into the last sentence of Dr. Glatt’s letter (Aug.23, p. 429). This should have read: " Barbiturates have becomepossibly the greatest danger on the British drug scene, havingformerly constituted an often underestimated menace for themiddle-aged." "

Rise and Fall of Asthma Mortality.-In the article by Dr.Inman and Dr. Adelstein (Aug. 9, p. 279) the last sentence onp. 279 should begin: "From 1965 [not 1945] onwards ..."

AppointmentsNorth East Metropolitan Regional Hospital Board:CANNON, PETER, M.B. Cantab., M.R.C.P. : consultant physician, Brent-

wood hospital group.CATTELL, W. R., M.D. Edin., M.R.C.P., M.R.C.P.E. : consultant nephro-

logist, East London hospital group and St. Bartholomew’sHospital.

CHALSTREY, L. J., M.D. Cantab., F.R.C.S. : consultant surgeon, Hackneyhospital group.

DANOS, EDITH, M.R.C.S., D.C.H., D.P.M. : consultant psychiatrist,Thurrock and Basildon child-guidance clinics and the Schoolfor Maladjusted Children, Basildon.

FORSTER, D. M. C., M.B. Cantab., M.R.C.O.G. : consultant obstetricianand gynxcologist, South Essex hospital group.

HUTCHINSON, V. H., M.B. Lond., D.M.R.D.: consultant radiologist,Harlow hospital group.

PORTNOY, J. S., M.B. Manc., D.M.R.D.: consultant radiologist, Foresthospital group.

WOODGATE, D. J., M.B. Lond., M.R.C.P., D.A. : consultant physician,South Essex hospital group.