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STAFF
Medical Officers
The establishment of the medical staff for the greater part of the year comprised the Senior
Medical Officer, the Deputy Senior Medical Officer and six medical officers. In August, the establishment
was reduced by one medical officer, as a result of the Ministry of Aviation taking over the
examination of aircrew, air traffic control officers and their assistants. As a result, the Deputy
Senior Medical Officer was able to move to the Oceanic Building to join the Senior Medical Officer,
leaving the remaining five medical officers, in turn, to man the Europa and Britannic Buildings.
Nursing Sisters
No change in the establishment took place during the year.
Receptionists
The establishment of clerk/receptionists was again raised during the year from fifteen to nineteen
(which includes the Senior Clerk/Receptionist) to allow for the provision of a round-the-clock x-ray
service.
PORT HEALTH
Although the Public Health (Aircraft) (Amendment) Regulations, 1963, and its implications are
gradually becoming known to travel agencies, airlines and the general public, passengers still
continue to arrive, particularly from Israel, Egypt and the Lebanon, without valid international
certificates against smallpox. Many of these passengers are in fact British residents who have gone
to the Middle East for a holiday and they fail to understand why these certificates are necessary on
their return to London, when they are not so required by the Governments of Israel and the other
Middle East countries.
All passengers arriving at London Airport from Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia were required to
produce valid international certificates against smallpox. This requirement brought London Airport
into step with the sea ports of the United Kingdom, and merely reversed a situation—temporary at
that—when the airport medical officers were given authority by the Ministry of Health to use their
discretion in the case of passengers arriving from these countries. Here, it is the passengers from
Tangier who, mostly, are unaware of the Regulations.
The number of vaccinations against smallpox carried out in 1965 was 5,424, compared with
3,576 in 1964 and 1,656 in 1963. Not all these vaccinations were performed on arriving passengers,
as it is the practice to vaccinate outgoing passengers, who, at the last minute, discover that they have
forgotten their certificates or that, if they have them, they are out of date.
Advice notices to destination Medical Officers of Health placing passengers under surveillance
totalled 2,883, compared with 2,493 in 1964 and 1,056 in 1963.
A mother and two children arrived from Bombay, a locally infected smallpox area, without
vaccination certificates. Vaccination was refused as the family were conscientious objectors. The
three passengers were accordingly isolated for fourteen days in West Hendon Hospital.
A boy, aged thirteen years, arrived from Accra and as his mother refused to allow him to be
vaccinated owing to eczema, he also was placed in isolation in West Hendon Hospital.
During the twelve months ending December 31st, 1965, 12 vaccinations against yellow fever, and
85 against cholera were carried out.
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