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9
In May last a change was made in the several boundaries of the
Out-door Medical Officers' Districts, and the number was reduced from
7 to 6.
Three Dispensaries were established; one Dispenser and two Medical
Officers being attached to each; the drugs and appliances were provided
by the Guardians. Too short a period has as yet elapsed to form a
decided opinion as to the benefits resulting from this arrangement in
comparison with that formerly obtaining.
I regret to state that Mr. Evans, the Dispenser first appointed to
Dispensary No. 3, in Church Row, died January 21st, at the early age
of twenty-nine, of Small Pox, contracted in the execution of his duty.
Such an event is not surprising, when we consider the number of persons
attending the Dispensaries to obtain medicines for patients suffering from
this fearful malady, for there were no less than 685 cases attended by the
District Medical Officers between September, 1870, and March, 1871.
Many of these were of the most virulent type; the Hospital at Hampstead
was full, and that at Homerton had not then been opened, so that the
Medical Officers had to continue to attend the patients at their own
homes; and as many of the cases required visiting daily for two or three
weeks, and their medicine to be frequently changed, much extra work also
fell to the lot of the Dispensers. Shortly after her bereavement, Mrs.
Evans fell ill with the same complaint, and gave birth prematurely to a
son. The infant did not live long, but succumbed to the same disease
as its father. In this sad state of things, all was done that could be done
to comfort the widow in her affliction; nor did she leave Bethnal Green
without a substantial acknowledgment by the Board of Guardians, of
sympathy for her loss, and of esteem for her departed husband.
WORKHOUSE.
The number of cases attended in the Infirmary was 2275. There were
108 births here during the year—51 males and 57 females: of the males,
30 were illegitimate; of the females, 36; so that the illegitimate births
were in excess of legitimate.