ONE of the lesser known services to which the R.N.L.I. makes a big con- tribution is the Post Office "Medico" service. The twelve G.P.O. coast radio stations, including the world-wide radio- telegraph station at Burnham-on-Sea, provide a free medical advice and assistance communications service for ships of any nationality wherever they may be.

In case of accident or illness on board, a ship may prefix radio calls with the urgency signal XXX or PAN to receive priority treatment over all ordinary communications. If a ship calls one of the coast stations on radiotele- phony the master is put straight through to a doctor ashore for diagnosis and advice. Masters of ships fitted with radiotelegraph equipment only can exchange radiotelegrams with a doctor through any of the stations. Each coast station passes the calls or messages to a particular hospital or doctor in its area where copies of the Ship Captain's Medical Guide and Merchant Shipping Medical Scales are held. The hospitals and doctors provide their services free of charge.

Doctor Often Goes Out Requests for medical assistance are normally passed to the Port Medical Officer of the most convenient port for the necessary arrangements to be made.

If he is unable to help, the coast station enlists the aid of H.M. Coastguard and R.A.F. to arrange for a life-boat or helicopter to take off the patient and land him ashore. Arrangements are also made for an ambulance to meet the patient on landing; very often the doctor who has advised landing the patient goes out with the life-boat him- self. In cases where medical attention is required, but where the ship is too far at sea for assistance from the shore, the coast station broadcasts to all ships in an endeavour to contact one which carries a doctor. If there is such a ship in the area a rendezvous is arranged and, if necessary, the patient is trans- ferred to the assisting vessel for treatment.

An interesting example of the sort of assistance given to ships through the "Medico" service is an incident which took place one night early in 1962 in the Swedish ship Portland. The ship radioed the coast station at Landsend "Here sick man. No assistance." The ship was in the Atlantic bound for Brest and the coast station operator asked for more details. He was told that there was a man on board very ill with a blood infection and that it was necessary to get him to hospital as soon as possible. The French authorities had already been contacted and had prom- ised to send a helicopter the next day, but the Portland asked Landsend Radio if one could be sent straight away to take the patient ashore.

Chloromycetin Dropped Weather and sea conditions in the area were too bad for this to be done in the dark and the R.A.F. offered to drop a supply of chloromycetin. Landsend radio then arranged for the ship to light flares and transmit radio signals to assist the aircraft in locating them and, within a few hours of the original call for assistance, supplies had been drop- ped and picked up from the sea by one of the ship's life-boats. With a supply of the drug on board the patient was able to receive treatment until it was possible to put him ashore and the Portland resumed her course for Brest at full speed.

During the financial year 1962/63 the coast stations handled about 350 "Medico" cases involving 656 messages containing 26,853 words and 244 radio- telephone calls.

Sick Arab Stallion The cases handled are of widely different types of course - the Post Office has even been asked to provide medical advice for a sick Arab stallion on board ship; advice was obtained and the animal recovered.

This service, which the Post Office provides to save life at sea, is only a small part of the work of the 12 coast stations at Wick, Stonehaven, Culler- coats, Humber, North Foreland, Niton, Landsend, Ilfracombe, Portishead, Anglesey, Port Patrick and Oban, but everyone connected with the life-boat service will realize how vital such advice and assistance can be. In addition, the stations provide a world- wide network of radio communications for the largest liners sailing the seven seas to the smallest fishing vessels carrying on their trade in home waters..