A young girl suffering from yaws, a tropical bacterial infection, also known as polypapilloma tropicum. Close-up of the girl. A young boy suffering from salds (?). A crowd of people waiting at the outpatients department. A man suffering from horrendous tropical ulcers has his dressings removed and his wounds cleaned.

Ulcers being cleaned with close-ups. Patients waiting. Interior men's ward. Interior women's ward. Two nurses dress a woman's leg. A four-day old baby. Gynaecological view of a Chinese woman forced into prostitution during the war and suffering severely from venereal disease. Group of four nurses named on the dopesheet as Tan, Majid, Pahang and Meriam with close-ups. Group of eight nurses named as Tan, Majid, Jinadin, Phg (Pahang?), Lom, Chang, Catherine, and Meriam. Group shot of the hospital staff. A mother and daughter both suffering from tuberculosis. Panning views of the hospital complex. A tray of surgical instruments. View of the operating theatre building.

Shot after the liberation of Malaya from the Japanese, footage depicts the suffering of patients at a hospital in Kuantan, capital of Pahang state in Malaya, and attempts at relief by Allied and local medics.

Notes

An unpleasant and disturbing film with some graphic close-ups. The dopesheet describes in detail and at length the deprivation of this hospital, the suffering of the patients and the cruelty of the Japanese Kempeitai. Lengthy details are given for most of the patients seen. The cameraman gives his intention as 'to show the plight of civilians during the Japanese occupation'. The pictures of the Chinese woman's vagina were apparently taken at the request of the medical officer in charge of the hospital, who thought they would be of interest to British medical services. They illustrate to a degree the appalling prevalence of venereal disease in many parts of South East Asia in this period.