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153
1909

The fees in respect to the above certificates amounted to £49 16s.
The certificates as they were received were entered in a book specially
ruled and indexed, and each Medical Officer of an Institution, District
Medical Officer and Superintending Officer was duly credited in it with the
amount due for each certificate, and at the end of each quarter the accounts
forwarded by the several notifying officers were checked by it. The several
Poor Law Officers notifying these cases are obliged by the Order to forward
the counterfoils of their certificates, so that there is a complete check on
their accounts.
The great object of the notification of these cases of tuberculosis is, of
course, to prevent the spread of the disease by enabling the Sanitary Authority
to give advice to the patients on the subject, to provide them with the
necessary means and instructions towards that end, and also to disinfect houses,
rooms and clothing that have become infected.
In a report on the Voluntary Notification of Phthisis presented to the
Council in 1904, the Medical Officer of Health pointed out that following results
will be obtained by notification:—
(1) That it will afford an opportunity of instructing the patients and the
householders, especially those living in tenement dwelling and lodging
houses, both orally and by printed matter, as to the precautions that
are essential to prevent the spread of the disease, and as to the
destruction of the sputum as it is discharged.
(2) That it will afford an opportunity of carrying out such measures of
disinfection as are necessary to destroy infective matter both in the
house itself and in the bedding and personal clothing of the patient.
(3) That it will afford an opportunity of inspecting the infected house
and of discovering whether the rooms are overcrowded or dirty or
insufficiently ventilated.