View report page

57
In the interim report of the Departmental Committee
on Tuberculosis, it is urged that any scheme that is to form
the basis of an attempt to deal with the problem of
Tuberculosis should provide:—
(1) That it should be available for the whole
community.
(2) That a definite organization should exist for
the detection of disease at the earliest possible moment.
(3) That the best methods of treatment should be
available for all those suffering from the disease.
(4) That concurrently with these methods of
detection and treatment provision should ,be made for
increasing existing medical knowledge of the disease,
and of the methods for its prevention and cure, by
research.
The Tuberculosis Committee point out that the first
unit should consist of the tuberculosis dispensary. This I
referred to and described in a previous memorandum.
The Departmental Committee are of opinion that one
tuberculosis dispensary will be required in the immediate
future for every 150,000 of the population in Metropolitan
Districts.
So far as I can ascertain, the cost of such dispensaries
as have been established in London have averaged from
£750 to £1,000 per annum.
George Paddock Bate, M.D.,
Medical Officer of Health.