Guyana sends medical mission to Brazil
(Guyana Graphic: July 12, 1968)
A MEDICAL goodwill mission is flying out of Guyana this morning for the Amazonas area in Brazil to help in relieving the suffering of people stricken with leprosy.
Headed by the Superintendent of the Mahaica Hospital, Dr. Jose Tiongson, a specialist in bone and reconstruction surgery, the six-member mission will spend three weeks at the Amazonas leprosy hospital in Manaus.

“We expect to operate on at least thirty cases,” the leader said as he and other members of his team, including his wife, Mrs. Tiongson, Sister Mary Carmen (Superior) Sister Mary Benedict of the Mahaica Hospital and two Staff members,  Mr. Vincent Lewis and Mr. Michael Budhoo, were packing their suitcases last night for the trip.
The mission is going to the Amazonas at the request of the Brazilian Government, and with the approval of the Guyana Government.
Dr. Tiongson, who, along with the members of his team, have been given special leave by the Ministry of Health to carry out this mercy mission, will also evaluate the situation during the three-week stay.

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The boy Dr. Barnard did not forget
(Guyana Graphic: July 21, 1968)
A NINE-year-old Guyanese boy is now the proud owner of an autographed photograph of Dr. Christian Barnard, the South African pioneer of heart transplant surgery.
The boy, Keith Fischer of 10 Earle’s Avenue, Kitty, had written to Dr. Barnard shortly after the specialist had put in a new heart in Dr. Blaiberg, the dentist who is now the world’s longest living heart transplant patient.
Keith told Dr. Barnard, in his letter, that he had followed with keen interest all the news about the heart switch, and that he thought it was a wonderful achievement.
He congratulated Dr. Barnard on his success, told him that he, too, wanted to be a surgeon, and asked for his autograph.
Months went by, and just as Keith was beginning to think that Dr. Barnard had no time to write to a little boy halfway around the world, the postman brought a letter with a strange stamp.
It was from Dr. Barnard, and it contained a signed photograph of the famous surgeon, with a note saying in English and Afrikaans: “With the compliments of Professor C.N. Bernard, and the members of the organ transplantation team, Groote Schuur Hospital, University of Capetown.”
Keith’s father, Mr. Maurice Fischer, an agronomist of Bookers Group Productivity Services, says that his son was an avid follower of all the news of Dr. Blaiberg’s operation earlier this year.
When Keith told his friends at the St. John’s School on South Road, Georgetown, that he had received Dr. Barnard’s photograph, they refused to believe him at first.
Keith’s keen interest in the news, his father believes, stemmed from the system at the St. John’s School, where the pupils of Standard Three, in which Keith is, are encouraged by their teacher to read the newspapers, and are questioned in class about what they had read.

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Battling leprosy on four fronts
(Guyana Graphic: July 21, 1968)
THE problem of leprosy is being tackled in Guyana from four sides, said Mr. Chetram Singh, Administrator of the Georgetown Hospital, who supervises the Mahaica Hospital, the institution for leprosy.
He said that popular businessman, Mr. John Fernandes, “who is really a true friend of the Georgetown Hospital,” gave the institution an air-conditioned theatre. Mr. Fernandes was also providing the funds for further structural improvements to the Theatre.
Since the completion of the Theatre a few weeks ago, 70 operations on patients’ hands, feet and eyes were performed by the Medical Superintendent, Dr. J. Tiongson.
Mr. Singh disclosed that departments of occupational and physical therapy had been opened to work in close collaboration with this new phase of rehabilitative surgery.
Mr. Singh said that when people became well again, and were put back “into circulation,” they should be beneficially occupied, and that was why a number of projects had been undertaken jointly by the employees of the hospital and the patients.
He added that these projects included basket making, rugs, mats, other crafts, farming and poultry rearing.
A few months ago, a farm project to teach patients how to raise pigs was launched by officials of the hospital.
The guiding light behind the project was Ms. V. Adams, Warden of the Hospital.

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Escorted tour of London & Europe
(Guyana Graphic: July 3, 1968)
21 exciting days, 10th July to 30th July: 4 days in London; 16 in Europe. Total cost of tour: G$1689 from Guyana & return by Super VC 10.This total cost includes air fare, accommodation, meals, service charges, transfers to and from airport, sightseeing, portage and tips. Highlights include visits to Brussels, the Ardennes, Luxemburg, Strasbourg in the Tyrol, the Black Forest, the source of the Blue Danube, Innsbruck in the Tyrol, the Alps, Venice, Florence, Rome, Milan, Switzerland, Lugano, Lucerne, Basle, Paris. Book now; only 5 seats left. Joe Chin’s Travel Service, Main and Murray Streets.

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Brother qualifies as lawyer, sister gains B.A.
(Guyana Graphic: July 3, 1968)
A BROTHER and a sister who left the country more than four years ago to further their studies have qualified in their fields in Britain and the United States.
Mr. Clement O. Richards has qualified as a Barrister-at-Law at Gray’s Inn, while his sister, Mrs. Lloyda E. King, has gained the B.A Degree in Sociology.
Mr. Richards and Mrs. King are brother and sister of Transport and Harbours Assistant Supt. (Goods), Mr. Vernon Richards.
Mr. Richards, who will be called to the Bar in England shortly, was a first-class trained teacher at Providence Congregational School, Berbice, before leaving the country in 1963.
Mrs. King, who is the wife of Mr. Olin E. King, will graduate shortly from Pasadena State College, where her husband also is a student.

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Now a magazine for the business community
(Guyana Graphic: July 4, 1968)
THE Georgetown Chamber of Commerce is producing a new bi-monthly magazine, called “Guyana Business”, to cater for the needs of the local business community.
At a press conference Tuesday to launch the new publication, the Chairman of the Chamber’s Public Relations Committee, Mr. Eric Stoby, said that Guyana needed a good, well-produced magazine dealing with the activities of trade, commerce, and industry.
He felt that with the coming of CARIFTA, it was more than ever important, and indeed urgent that there should be a vehicle to keep businessmen completely in touch with what was happening in the area.
“Guyana Business”, he said, aimed to fulfill this function, and he urged local businesses to make it a success.(Clifford Stanley can be reached to discuss any of the foregoing articles at cliffantony@gmail.com or cell-phone # 657 2043)