WEEKLY SURVEYOR

• Document Type: FOIA
• Collection: FOIA Collection
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): 0005647977
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: U
• Document Page Count: 3
• Document Creation Date: June 24, 2015
• Document Release Date: May 27, 2011
• Case Number: F-2010-01312
• Publication Date: July 14, 1969

 Week~y Surveyor
14 July 1969
patients" who had been treated with them died.
Phnom Penh. the color of Chinese drugs
(antibiotics) changed after a short time and that '
most of the drugs
used ere of Chinese origin, shipped through
reported.
(which has been manufactured for a number of years now)
still show great variation in the amounts of impurities
present. The disruption resul`_ing from the Cultural Revolu-
tion likely caused a further breakdown in quality control.
These factors, coupled with *he poor storage facilities
available to the VC in both Cambodia and South Vietnam,
probably a~~~t~nt for the serious or fatal side reactions
Comment: Chinese antibiotics. have always shown evi-
dence of poor quality control. Examples of Chinese penicillin
c~~rd;nat;~n between the several Vietnam aid groups.
European Medical Aid to VC Coordinated in Paris: The
Franco-Vietnamese Medical Association sponsore a meeting
in Paris on 14 June to coordinate Vietnam medical aid
programs in Western Europe. Representatives from leftist
Vietnam aid associations in England, Belgium, the Nether-
lands, Italy, Sweden, Switzerland, and Norway attended
the meeting, as did representatives of the North Viet-
namese (NVN) government and the National Liberation Front
(NLF). The main points brought out at the Meeting were
that: 1) Western European medical aid to Vietnam serves
primarily as a mechanism for mobilizing public opinion
in support of the NLF; 2) the NLF has priority on all
medical aid sent to Vietnam; 3) the main NLF medical
needs are quinine, glucose, and blood ilasma substitutes;
4) "major transportation problems" are avoided by shipping
medicines through Cambodia; and 5) there is a lack of
Comment: The Franco-Vietnamese Medical Association
(FNMA appears to hold the lead among Vietnam aid groups
in Western Europe in coordinating medical shipments to
 Weekly Surveyor
14 July 1969
the NLF. The low volume of these goods is unlikely to
be effective from a medical standpoint. -Much of the aid
from Western Europe went to NVN during the period of in-
tensive bombing and it is reasonable that the priority
would shift to the NLF when the bombing became confined
to the south. The exp~~essed need for quinine, glucose,
and blood substitutes is fully consistent with the very
high rates of both malaria and combat casualties among
the VC.