ABSTRACT
In the case of the Medical Service, however high his professional quali cations may be, the newly arrived Medical O cer should spend six months in a large and up-to-date hospital on his arrival in the Colony. Two great advantages are secured, the o cer gaining rst-hand and valuable experience from the Resident Medical O cers and Surgeons of the hospital in dealing with local tropical diseases; and, what is equally important, with an alien race. e value of this knowledge of the characteristics of the people among whom he is to practise his profession cannot be over-estimated, for experience has shown that success either in Medicine, Surgery, or Sanitation in a tropical country depends as much on the con dence which the native places in the Medical O cer as on the latter’s professional skill. /
e value of this local training of newly joined Medical O cers has been fully proved in the last three years in the Gold Coast, but the system can only be
fully successful if there exists a large, up-to-date, and e ciently sta ed Colonial Hospital, such as that at Accra.2
