Where shall John go? Transkei.

Transkei is becoming headline news. Until recently this corner of South Africa was known in Britain only to a few tourists for its rolling hills dotted with huts; its "red blanket" tribespeople; and its click-language-recently heard over here in the African musical Ipi Tombi. On 26 October it became the Republic of Transkei-the first "independent African homeland" of South Africa. Like any developing country, Transkei faces considerable health problems. The Government aims to provide a comprehensive health service, responsible for preventing as well as curing disease. It runs all the Transkei hospitals, and needs doctors to staff them. Medical care in the Transkei was pioneered by the mission hospitals, founded in the nineteenth century mainly by British and South African missionary societies. They staffed the hospitals when they could, starting a long tradition of British doctors practising British-style medicine in the Transkei. Although the Transkei Government has now taken over all the mission hospitals, the tradition persists, and only the pattern of staffing is changing-there are now even fewer of the old-style "medical superintendents" devoting their professional lifetime to a hospital. More and more of the medical staff are young doctors contracting to spend a few years in the Transkei. Their help is welcomed, and they themselves gain useful and unusual clinical experience before returning to their careers at home. In describing some of the conditions encountered and medicine practised, I write from my own experience of a year spent as a medical officer in a small rural hospital in Pondoland, on the Transkei coast-probably fairly typical, but obviously varying in detail from other areas.