32
CHAPTER 4
beds at Ostia-Lido di Roma under the direction of Professor A.Maglio, which is run on
Stoke Mandeville principles. This Centre has pioneered in Italy the modern concept
of treating spinal paraplegics and tetraplegics and, up to 1967, 1,700 patients have been
treated there. More than 300 new cases due to industrial accident are added to the 5,000
stabilized cases in Italy (Maglio, 1963). The Centre is organized as a completely autono–
mous hospital and equipped with all clinical social and educational facilities. It has its
own workshops for manufacturing calipers and repair of wheelchairs. Special emphasis
has been laid on the development of sport. Actually, the first International Stoke Mande–
ville Games ever held in the Olympic year in connection with the Olympic Games took
place in Rome in 1960, when 400 paralysed sportsmen and women representing 23
countries were accommodated in the Olympic Stadium. However, the industrial resettle–
ment of paraplegics in Italy is handicapped through the still existing laws in that country
which do not allow severely disabled people in receipt of full pensions to take up employ–
ment. Professor Maglio has recently been appointed Medical Superintendent at Head–
quarters by the I.N.A.I.L. The Spinal Centre at Ostia has recently been taken over
by the Health Service of Italy and Professor Masserelli a former assistant of Professor
Maglio is now in charge of the Centre. There is also a small Spinal Unit for ex-servicemen
in Rome under Dr Palcinelli set up by the Italian Government (Opera Nazinale Pergli
Invalidi Di Guerra, O.N.I.G.) and another in Milan under Professor Ascoli, anurologist.
JAMAICA
Paraplegics and tetraplegics are first treated at the Orthopaedic department of the
University under Professor Golding. However, in the early '6o's a Rehabilitation Centre
(The Mona Rehabilitation Centre) mainly for paralysed people and especially polios was
built in Kingston, thanks to the great efforts of Mr Sammy Henriques, which has good
facilities for rehabilitation, in particular, sport. There the Second Paraplegic Common–
wealth Games were held in 1966 under the leadership of Professor Golding, which were
opened by H.R.H. the Duke of Edinburgh, accompanied by Prince Charles and Princess
Anne. This event was a great success and aroused great interest in the community of
that country and other parts of the West Indies. Ever since, teams from Jamaica have
taken part in the Stoke Mandeville Games and the Pan American Games.
JAPAN
The whole approach of the medical profession and the public towards spinal paraplegics
fundamentally changed in Japan after the return of Dr Nakamura and Professor Tamai,
both orthopaedic surgeons, from Stoke Mandeville, where they gained extensive experi–
ence during many months training. It was Dr Nakamura from Beppu who in 1962
brought the very first small team of Japanese paraplegics to England to take part in the
International Games, which on the team's return, aroused increasing interest in the
rehabilitation of traumatic paraplegics in Japan. In the Olympic year of 1964, the Stoke
Mandeville Games were held immediately after the Olympic Games in the magnificent
Olympic Stadium of Tokyo, under the leadership of Mr Kasai and his committee, when
