Hinton Brown papers (Flying Doctor Service)

In the 1960s Dr Cecil Orchard, the Medical Superintendent at McCord Hospital, Durban, arranged for volunteer doctors to visit remote rural mission hospitals in Zululand to share their expertise and advice with rural doctors.  Initially the visits were over weekends, and the doctors would drive overnight on a Friday and return late on Sunday.  The drive was very time-consuming and on poor roads, so from 1970 a flying service was introduced.  This was called the ‘Mission Hospital Service Flights’, and from 1976 the Rotary Club of Durban Port Natal raised funds for and organised the flights.  The service visited four rural hospitals annually, rotating visits between the hospitals: Mosvold Mission Hospital at Ingwavuma; Bethesda Mission Hospital at Ubombo; Manguzi Hospital near the Mozambique border; and Mseleni Mission Hospital on Lake Sibayi.  After Dr Orchard passed away in 1986 the service became known as the ‘Cecil Orchard Memorial Flights’, and then later became the ‘Flying Doctor Service’.  Hinton Brown, one of the pilots for the service, was a Rotary Club member and was involved with the organisation of the flights and with obtaining financial sponsorship.  On the 22 June 1996 the service carried out its 100th flight.

In 1988 the Department of Continuing Medical Education (CME) at the University of Natal Medical School took over the rural consultation meetings as part of CME’s Rural Programme, and the Cecil Orchard Memorial Flights were incorporated into the programme.  The Port Natal Rotary Club, along with the KwaZulu Government, raised funds for flights and pilots for the scheme.