'21/5 QATAR HOSPITAL' [‎11r] (21/48)

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Ext.187/47.
My dear Hay,
Will you please refer to your d.©^letter to
Weightman No. 1186-S of 21st December, 1946^ recommending
the setting up of a dispensary at Dohah in Qatar.
2. I am afraid that in present circumstances there
is little likelihood that the Government of India will
sanction funds for any new undertakings in the Gulf, seeing
that Weightman is well that H.M.G. are about to propose
that they should take over control, both administrative and
financial in that area. If a dispensary is established, it
will no doubt have to be on funds provided by H.M.G. and
not by the Government of India.
3. I can well understand that, with the expansion
of P.C.L’s operations and with the general difficulty of
communication in the Gulf, there must be a good deal of
political work in Qatar which the Political Agent A mid-ranking political representative (equivalent to a Consul) from the diplomatic corps of the Government of India or one of its subordinate provincial governments, in charge of a Political Agency. , Bahrein,
is not well able to supervise. If you consider that the
Sheikh is unlikely to agree to a formal enforcement of
Article VIII of the treaty of 1916, there seems much to be
said for the suggestion that the work might be undertaken
by a medical officer who could combine the two functions.
4. While we-can give no undertaking that H.M.G.
will make any funds available for this project, I feel that
it is one that should be considered here if the Government
of India refuse to play. I should, however, be grateful
for a further development of your thesis that there is
political work to be done in Qatar that cannot readily be
handled by the existing political authorities, and that this
could be done by a medical officer. If it can be shown that
there is a real call for both political and medical super
vision in Qatar, a good case might be put up to the Treasury
to provide the funds required.
5. For obvious reasons I am not sending a copy of
this letter to India.
Yours sincerely,
Sd. E. P. DONALDSON.
India Office The department of the British Government to which the Government of India reported between 1858 and 1947. The successor to the Court of Directors. ,
Whitehall,
London, S.W.l.
28th January, 1947.
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The Hon'ble Lieutenant Colonel W. H. Hay,
C.S.I.,
C • I. E • ,
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