Knowles to Study South Vietnam's Health Program

A lecturer at the Harvard Medical School is on his way to Saigon for a three-week study of South Vietnam's Medical conditions and the extent of civilian casualties resulting from the war.

Dr. John H. Knowles, together with the five other members of his team will attempt to help the Vietnamese improve their medical care and will study possibility for increased U.S. aid to South Vietnamese public health and health education programs.

Knowles is also director of the Massa-chusetts General Hospital.

Senator Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass.) said at the press conference announcing Knowles' appointment that the medical team is "the first that will determine the real extent of the civilian casualties in Vietnam."

The team, which was invited to study Vietnam's health programs by the State Department and the White House, has been limited to six members--the maximum number of passengers in the Beach Craft, the airplane which the team will use to study Vietnam's 150 hospitals.

The head of the American Medical Association will serve as the chairman of the team. Other members include the director of the American Hospital Association, a doctor affiliated with the Agency for International Development, the doctor responsible for developing the national rural health program in the U.S., and a pediatric surgeon.

Presently in Washington D.C. being briefed, Knowles and the rest of the team will fly to Sagon within the next week.