Med Ship Man

Med Ship is a novelization of a series of stories by award-winning author Murray Leinster. I read the first of them, Med Ship Man. You can read it online here as it appeared in Galaxy Magazine in 1963, or you can listen to it read to you here. An interesting story, I'd have loved it when I was younger and less experienced with science fiction. I'd have recommended it to my kids back in the day, or to adults new to science fiction as an easy toe-in-the-water introduction, but not so much for adults familiar with the genre. There is a tribute site here.

from the back of the book:

WHO YA GONNA CALL?

MED SERVICE!

Scattered through the galaxy are thousands of worlds colonized by humans. Many have native microbes dangerous to the human immigrants. Others have diseases brought to them accidentally -or on purpose- by visiting ships. When millions of lives are threatened, it's a job for the Interstellar Medical Service, and a Med Ship is sent to solve the problem.

Calhoun is the best the Med Service has, and hard experience has taught him that often the major obstacle to curing the sick is ... the sick. And removing that kind of obstacle may take very strong medicine. To find a cure for a disease, Calhoun has the help of his small animal companion Murgatroyd, a tormal -a species with the most powerful immune system in the galaxy. But to find a cure for hysteria, prejudice, crime, and even war is much more complicated, requiring considerable ingenuity. Fortunately, ingenuity is something that Calhoun has in good supply...