View report page

56
Dispensary is not actually mentioned, an Institution of this
kind is clearly indicated, and, in my opinion, the Borough
Council of Bethnal Green is under a moral obligation to
take steps to provide one.
The National Insurance Act, 1911, creates an Insurance
Committee for every County and County Borough, but it
entirely ignores the Metropolitan Borough Councils and
makes the County of London the unit.
The London Insurance Committee will be required by
the Act to deal with the treatment of Tuberculosis so far as
it affects insured persons and perhaps their dependents.
This Committee may contract with the managers of existing
institutions (other than Poor Law), but cannot themselves
erect or control Sanatoria; they must arrange with the
London County Council for the erection of buildings, and
this authority will be entitled to a share of the money set
aside by the Finance Act of 1911, which is earmarked for
the erection and maintenance of Sanatoria.
The Insurance Committee will have no power to control
these Sanatoria, when erected, but they must administer the
" benefit" which is only to be granted on their special
recommendation, and would, I suppose, be confined to
insured persons and possibly their dependents.
As only a small proportion of the present sufferers
from Phthisis in Bethnal Green are employed contributors
under the Act, the greater number would be outside the
Insurance scheme, and this is exactly where the obligations
of the Borough Council come in.
We have in the Borough at the present time about 637
reported cases of Pulmonary Tuberculosis. Most of them
are under treatment at hospitals, dispensaries or Poor Law
infirmaries, but the large proportion are remaining at home
and quite unable to provide proper healthy surroundings.