Page 23 - Records of Bahrain (7) (ii)_Neat

The Ruling Family 413

28.WeymcWth StrJet W.l.

•,i SKI* \%i’ ,
,l8t. 3optembor, I960*
i
■jboi'tM-xin ;
Dear Mr. Walker,
Shaikh Khalifa bin Mohammed al Khalifa
Dr. Bryan Bovan, the Shaikh's personal physician,
askod mo to let you have a report on his condition.
He came over hero and entered the London Clinic on
30th.June and his chief complaint was of shortness of
breath both at rest and on exertion. He has since 1957
had couroes of treatment in various European Clinics for
the same complaint v/ith, from each one, relatively short­
lived improvement in his symptoms. He was soon in the
London Clinic initially by Dr. Graham Hayward and
subsequently by Dr. Evan Bedford, Dr. John Stokes and
Dr. Walter Somerville. Concerned by the unanimity of
their opinions, he asked to see Sir Russell Brock and
his Cardiologist, Dr. Deuohar and the later course of his
treatment was supervised by those two. Briefly, all are
agreed that the Shaikh suffers from chronic heart failure
due to a disorder of the muscle of his heart -
myoendooardial fibrosis. Ho has responded well to I
treatment of his heart failure but the basic underlying
disorder in the heart muscle remains unaltered, for this
is a condition that in the present state of our knowledge
is irreversible. The prosent state in which his heart is
fairly well compensated will probably not last long and
ho will again relapse into heart failure. The heart
failure is becoming progressively more resistant to
treatment and the ultimate prognosis is undoubtedly bad.
Please let mo know if you would like any further
information.
yours sinoorely,

H. P. Walker, Esq •»
The Foreign Office,
LONDON.