Se, Mary Sou

English

epublications@Marquette

The Linacre QuarterlyVolume 33 | Number 1 Article 20February 1966Medicine in MalayaMary Sou SeFollow this and additional works at: http://epublications.marquette.edu/lnqRecommended CitationSe, Mary Sou (1966) "Medicine in Malaya," The Linacre Quarterly: Vol. 33 : No. 1 , Article 20.Available at: http://epublications.marquette.edu/lnq/vol33/iss1/20An uncle ./ ,he boy told me, while the Hope 1.--.Jctors were working on the patient, that he had been taken to one of the City hospitals, but he was turned away because the elec­tric generator was not functioning and there was no power that night. As a result of our ten-month stay on the good ship Hope, more than 600 techm doctors anc. sonnel ha, solid, scien Also, a Ho1 on what h(. the entire enriched t: project. XI nurses, dentists, r paramedical per· n trained in good, Wes tern medicine. am was left to carry , ·n begun. I am sure n try will be truly �h this tremendous INTERNATIONAL CON SS 56 of CATHOLIC DOCTOR Manila, Philippines November 2-6, 196 ***** Principal Theme THE DOCTOR and the POPULA TIC � PROBLEM Secondary Themes Fertility and Sterility . * Populati<,, 1 ControlGenetics * Social Medicir c Food and Nutrition Socio-Economic Factors Contact: Mariano M. Alimurung, M.D. Faculty of Medicine and Surgery University of Santo Tomas Manila, Philippines LrN ACRE QUARTERLY in Malaya Octc >er 25, 1965 ks so much for your letter r 11, 1965). I wish that I answer you as soon as possi-even though my English is hat forgotten, since these last h years in France I do not have cliance to practice it. I am ·always very grateful to my dleagues of the Federation of Cath­alic Physicians' Guilds and all those who helped me · when I was doing my medical training in U.S.A. from 1954 to 1956, especially the doctors in St. Elizabeth Hospital,· Brighton (Mm.). \·ery much mixed: Malayans, Chin­ese, Indians, Eurasians, Australians, -;:. uropeans, also Americans and others. The common language is Malay. The patients like the doc­tor to speak his or her language, so I had to go evening school twice a week to learn Malay for my Malayan patients. All day I had to speak English or Chinese or Malay with my different patients. That's really amusing! Near Kuala Lumpur we started with an out-patient clinic, then added a hospital with maternity care. I took charge to see all the sick children. Every day there were about 40 to 60 sick children who came to our out-patient clinic (not counting those for dressings, injec­tions, B.C.G., or triple antigen vac­cinations, and so forth). As men­tioned before, most of the diseases are different from those I saw in the U.S.A.; perhaps it will be interest­ing to tell my colleagues some of them. Since I left the U.S.A. I went to mission lands; my experiences are 11tber poor, but fairly interesting from the medical point of view. Most of the diseases I saw are quite rarely seen in the U.S.A. I spent about 2 years in Macao and about � years in Malaya. I was so en­ioyed to work among the sick ones� Kuala Lumpur and Singapore; It was really a wonderful vineyard where the missionary doctor can do •great good.Maiaya is a lovely country, with wide-spread green fields ( tall tropi­cal trees and all kinds of fruit trees) and so many beautiful small towns and villages. In nearby Kuala. Lum­pur (it is the capital of Malaya) 1'bere I had been, the town is quite newly built (about 9 or 10 years). � beautiful to see all the newhouses with different colored laps shining under the early rising 111n. The peoples in Malaya are PaauAay, 1966 ANEMIA - is a frequent disease. Sometimes the child is as pale as a paper; the R.B.C. and HB drop down to the lowest level. These children suffer from malnutrition or iron deficiency and worms. Some suffer from thalassemia and mega-lobastic anemias. WORMS - is a common disease among the children. Very often a child would be brought for cough, fever, diarrhea, or anorexia and we found the eggs of worms by stool examination. The worst one is ankylostomiasis; (old) children will 57 suffer from ,L'\' re respiratory stress, sometimes higl1 fever, severe cough and vomiting. diarrhea, and severe anemia. ENCEPHALITIS - Quite often the children are brought in with fever, vomiting, headache, even coma; LP. was done, C.S.F. and blood samples were examined. The diagnosis is done without difficulty; sometimes we found the encepha­litis due to virus of Japanese B. On other occasions, we found the children having: T.B. MENINGITIS - The treat­ment is very long. LP. for C.S.F. ex. done daily or every other day or weekly, depending on evolution. CASTRO-ENTERITIS - This causes the highest mortality in chil­dren in Malaya and Singapore; often the children are brought in with the last stage of dehydration ( evolution is very rapid, few hours or 1 or 2 days). I.V. drips must be given immediately to save the lives. A very interesting disease is the "infantile Beriberi." Several times I saw babies in a fatal respiratory and cardiaque distress: cyanosis, dyspnea, loss of consciousness, tachycardia, enlargement of the liver. The mothers knew their babies were going to die. When I saw such babies, the diagnosis must be done without any delay. 100 mg or more (or to repeat) of thiamine I.M. is given right away, putting the babies under oxygen. Digitalis (not always) is given a little later. All these babies were saved 1 or 3 hours after the thiamine was ad­ministered. Their color changed to 60 good and off thought the ·tress, the mothers:nent "a miracle."Once I sa, rnre skin case: An Indian worr me to our matern-ity ward 3 days prior to her labor of the ·d baby. The firstbaby was b ( in India) with a large skin c· ::;e involving about one-third of body, "just like a severe burn the mother stated and died 1 c 1fter birth; the sec· ond baby ho 1 India died 3 days after birth 1 similar skin at birth. The t .ment tried was in· effective. Flt v, the third baby (a girl) wa� ;m. Her skin over the abdomen l part of the thorax looked like a ·re burn with some vesicles and , 1e. I suggested to treat the nc born immediately with Penicillir j .. plus prenisolone plus good nu, ., care for skin. A skin biopsy wr ione; the specimen together with ,lood sample w ere sent to the l\ .iyan Medical R�­search depart1, 1t. The diagnos15 was Epiderm, is Bullosa. The baby lived fc,, .3 days under t�e treatments. burn-lik e skin spread slowly .,ii over the body also through th·· nucous membranes· in the oral c& . l y. nose and eventhe arms. Thi), baby's father wasalso Indian. I think I had better stop her e. The above arc only a part of myexperiences in thl' missions. I hopeto return to Malaya or formos�(Teiwan) where the mission word are flourishing. Before that 1 0hope to go to the U.S.A. to d� 36 months' or l year refreshi�gcourse (pediatrics or medicine) inLJNACRE QUARTERLYis or Brighton. I wish D_r.and all my colleagues will me. For the moment, I don't any material help but one daythe missions I will ask your helpthe patients' needs. ;.or :he t time, I quite feel ,, English · g-medical hunger. So any( t, iv) in the new progress cer a. , . pediatric or me�icine fi.ct<ls m U.S.A. will be appreciated. Very sincerely yours,Mary Sou Se, F.M.M. M.D.Institut Calot Berck-Plage, France ,---b f the National Fed�ration and is a physi-Mary Sou Se is an honorary mem er o . M iln in the community of the Franciscan Missionanes of ary. If - the next issue of this journal shoul d be delivered to ad . AT ONCE The return post-different address, please a vise age and cost of remailing this publication is becoming moreand more p rohibitive. your cooperation in keeping us up­to-date with your address will be most helpful. In the futu re,• • I t F m 3579 furnished you it will be necessary to comp e e or by the Post Office, sending same directly to The Linac reQuarterly office. Copies of the journal will not be remailed.UARY, 1966 61 

Medicine in Malaya

https://epublications.marquette.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=4261&amp;context=lnq

Medicine in Malaya

Abstract

Similar works

Full text

Available Versions

epublications@Marquette