Page 50 - Personal Column (Charles Belgrave)_Neat

have shocked Mrs Gamp. Often after childbirth the unfortunate mother
First the people had to be taught that mosquitoes caused malaria. Many
of them used nets at night, because the mosquitoes irritated them, but with
no thought of malaria. I painted a set of dramatically exaggerated posters
showing‘wrigglers’ in water-jars, and huge mosquitoes sucking the blo<>d
of debilitated Arabs which had, I think, some effect. Then we obtained
films and books describing the dangers from mosquitoes. After explana­
tions and warnings we began to break the jars in which mosquitoes were
breeding; the jars cost money so this had some effect, but it was uphill
work. We engaged Indian foremen, who knew the work, to take charge
of gangs of men who cleared the water channels and drained off the pools.
There was no co-operation from the public. Some of the landlords refused
to allow access to their gardens and angry farmers would burst into my
office full of complaints about our anti-malaria squads, but usually they
went away promising to be helpful. As the years passed people began to
appreciate the value of the work and villagers often came to me telling
me of some place where mosquitoes were breeding, asking that the anti-
malaria squad should be sent there.
In 1937 statistics from schools, dispensaries and the police and their
families showed that 20 per cent of the population suffered from malaria.
By 1956 this percentage had been reduced to 0-97 per cent. To achieve
this success much money had been spent and much work had been done
by Dr Snow, our Senior Medical Officer, and his staff. It was not a
spectacular achievement. It could not be shown to admiring V.I.P.s, like
roads, buildings and harbours, but it was one of the most successful and
perhaps the most valuable project which we undertook.
Another plan which I had in my mind, which the Shaikh approved,
was that we should have our own Government hospital. The American
Mission Hospital did very good work and the small, badly equipped
Victoria Memorial Hospital, an adjunct to the Political Agency, carried
on as well as its means permitted, but the staff and facilities of these two •plain and simple; to plan and build a hospital was too complicated a
hospitals were inadequate for the needs of Bahrain; besides, the Shaikh
and I felt that medical facilities for the people of Bahrain should be pro­
I out under the supervision of Khan Sahib Mohammed Khalil, the Super­
vided by the State. We had a few rather primitive dispensaries in various
parts of the islands, which were well patronized, and we employed several
Indian trained midwives for work among th e women.
Marjorie, with one of the Indian nurses, ran a clinic at the fort for the
families of the policemen, which was also attended by people from out­
side, but most of the Arab women were afraid of being cared for by
foreigners at childbirth so infant mortality was high. The dangerous and
disgusting practices which were carried out by the local midwives would
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was packed, internally, with salt in order to tighten up her muscles, to ?
provide the husband with more sexual satisfaction. This usually produced
severe complications when another cliild was born. Sometimes the mid­
wife would jump on the stomach of the expectant mother in order to
precipitate the birth, so it was not surprising that many babies were born
dead.
Eye diseases were common, especially trachoma, and many Arabs
had only one eye. Four brothers, who were important merchants, had
five eyes between them. Flies abounded in the bazaar until the Medical
Department started spraying the town with D.D.T. There was a great
deal of venereal disease, which was talked about as lightly as we would
talk of influenza. At one time the registration and compulsory inspection
of prostitutes was considered, but the idea was given up mainly because
it would have caused criticism from neighbouring rulers. Smallpox used
to appear every year, in spite of our quarantine service, until the people
realized the value of vaccination; after that they came in thousands to be
vaccinated and it was made compulsory in all schools and for travellers
abroad. In recent years smallpox has been rare in Bahrain and when it has
occurred it has been traced to infection brought from outside. There were
a few cases of leprosy, which were not segregated, but epidemics of
cholera and plague, which used to be frequent, have been unknown in
Bahrain since 1925 although they often occurred in India and Iraq. But in
spite of this catalogue of unpleasant diseases Bahrain was not an unhealthy
place for Europeans who, even in the summer-time, when the tempera­
ture at Awali sometimes reached 110 degrees and humidity often reached
98 degrees, were remarkably fit.
Before building a hospital I had to set up a Public Works Department.
Formerly I myself had designed all the new buildings, but they were
matter for me to undertake. Building work in the past had been carried
intendent of the Land Registration Department, with two or three Indian
and Arab foremen. Among the buildings which they constructed were
the British Naval Base, the Bahrain Law Courts and the Customs House.
I took on a retired, Indian, Public Works man who held the post until,
some years later, a British Director of Works was appointed. At this time
there were only two other Englishmen in the administration. One of them
was Claude dc Grenier, who had been Director of Customs since 1925;
the other was W. B. Steele, the State Engineer, who ran the electric
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