Close to 200 letters of protest have been forwarded to the Bermuda Medical Society in an effort to save the Island's only full-time musculo-skeletal practice.

And Dr. Tom Moore, the Irish-born orthopaedic specialist who has been running the practice for the past three years, has been offered a residency at a prestigious diagnostic clinic in the United States, The Royal Gazette learned yesterday.

A refusal by the Medical Society to renew Dr. Moore's work permit this week touched off a chorus of angry responses from the many neck and back pain sufferers who are regularly treated by him.

Dr. Moore is one of two orthopaedic specialists on the Island who administer bone manipulations to alleviate chronic neck and back pain.

The other, Briton Dr. Annabel Carter, works on a "limited'' work permit out of the office of sports physician Dr. Caroline Hammond.

Yesterday, the Paget man who is spearheading the campaign to save the full-time practice said approximately 181 letters had been written in support of Dr. Moore's treatments.

Most of the letters were sent as a result of a notice a group of concerned patients had placed in The Royal Gazette this week. The notice ran for three days.

Among the correspondents was an 82-year-old woman who said she was "terrified by the thought that treatment (of this sort) will not be available to me when I need it.'' Another woman, 35, wrote a two-page letter in which she recounted how Dr.

Moore had relieved her of her hip pains after two other specialists told her she would have to put up with the discomfort for the rest of her life.

"What a difference he's made to my life,'' she said. "Thank God for doctors like Dr. Moore.'' The campaign organiser said yesterday that the letters have already been sent to Society president Dr. Ian Fulton, who promised earlier this week to "employ another person'' if "we feel there is sufficient need.'' The organiser also praised Dr. Fulton's "open mind'' on the matter.

Dr. Moore, meanwhile, was reported yesterday to have been offered a residency at the prestigious Lahy Clinic in Burlington, Massachusetts.

Like the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, Lahy is one of the world's foremost diagnostic facilities.

Located northwest of Boston, it has more than 30 departments and over 300 doctors on staff.

Dr. Moore's office confirmed that he had been offered a position in the United States. He also maintains a practice in Dublin.