Medical problems encountered on British Antarctic expeditions

Publisher Summary This chapter focuses on medical problems encountered by R.M. Lloyd on British Antarctic expeditions. In 1965, he set sail from England to spend 18 months as a medical officer to Halley Bay, the largest British base in the Antarctic. His job was to look after the general health of the base including men and dogs, write a thesis for an MD in physiology, and help around the base when required. His experience prompted an examination of the medical records at all the British bases in the Antarctica for the period 1961–1970. Halley Bay is best equipped medically of the British bases, and it has a surgery with cupboards, library, sterilizer, examination couch, good stock of drugs, surgical instruments, X-ray machine, anesthetic machine, dental drill, weighing scales, centrifuge, diagnostic equipment, and suction apparatus. The chapter discusses the number of major cases seen on the bases in the decade. There was an average of at least one major case per year. The two bases with the highest number of casualties were the two most southerly: (1) Stonington Island and (2) Halley Bay.