Harold Bertram Turbott was a notable New Zealand doctor, public health administrator, broadcaster and writer. For four decades he broadcast a weekly talk on health on the radio. He was born in Auckland, New Zealand, in 1899.
Early life
Turbott was born in Auckland on 5 August 1899, moving to Hamilton as a child where he attended Hamilton Boys High School. He was dux of the school and went on to study medicine at the University of Otago, qualifying in 1923 after topping the class in midwifery.
Career
Turbott's first job was as a house surgeon at Waikato Hospital; he intended to become a surgeon. In 1923 he was persuaded that experience in India and China would be valuable and he went to work in a hospital near Canton. While in China he spent three months researching hookworm for the Rockefeller Foundation, followed by a course in radiology in Beijing. By the time he returned to New Zealand he had decided on a career in public health but as graduates from Britain were preferred in the field he returned to Dunedin to lecture in bacteriology and to complete a diploma in public health. In 1927 he became assistant medical officer of health in Auckland. He was able to initiate a diphtheria immunisation programme for school children to quell an epidemic. Later in 1927 he was appointed MoH in Gisborne. This was interrupted by a period in 1928 when he was in Western Samoa with the expeditionary force to quell the Mau uprising. As MoH in Gisborne Turbott recognised the problems causing Maori ill health: infectious diseases, poor housing, and inadequate water supplies and waste disposal. In 1933 he worked on tuberculosis in Maori on a fellowship from the British Medical Research Council. The community was resistant to the project so Turbott sought the assistance of Sir Apirana Ngata who was Minister of Maori Affairs. Turbott was able to instigate isolation shelters for the home treatment of tuberculosis patients. From 1935–1936 Turbott was chief medical officer in Western Samoa where there was a need to tackle tropical diseases and infant welfare. Returning to Auckland in 1936 he became MoH in South Auckland. There was high Maori mortality and diphtheria, typhoid and tuberculosis were rife. In 1940 Turbott's campaign for public health, particularly better sanitation, was recognised by the prime minister Peter Fraser and government allocated 40,000 for the construction of privies and water tanks. This initiative was supported by Princess Te Puea. In 1940 Turbott took up the position of director of school hygiene in the Department of Health where he promoted the public health nursing service. In 1947 he became deputy director general of health and director general of health in 1959. His appointment to director general was marred by an appeal by Dr AWS Thompson who then sued Turbott for damages because of comments Turbott made during the appeal process.
Radio doctor
Turbott became the radio doctor from 1943 to 1984 broadcasting a seven-minute talk on health every week, taking on the position from Colin Scrimgeour. The radio doctor talks were viewed with some suspicion by his colleagues but later grudgingly accepted.
Other activities
Turbott was president of the World Health Organisation from 1960–1961 and chairman from 1964–1965. He served on the Wellington Hospital Board from 1968–1983. He also served on other organisations: the local drainage board, the Traffic Institute and the Old People's Welfare Council.
He married his first wife Eveline Arthur in 1923. After their divorce he married Robinetta Jamieson in 1938. He had one daughter and two sons one of whom was Harry Turbott, a New Zealand architect. Turbott died on 16 March 1988 in the Hutt Hospital, Lower Hutt.
