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As will be seen from the plan, the middle of the building is occupied
by the nurses' room, and the doctors' consultation room. The
patients are weighed in the nurses' room, where also any necessary
dressings are done; they are thus examined in the consultation
room. This brief description of the building will suffice to explain
the size and arrangements of the clinic. If the accommodation
were taxed to its utmost, approximately 300 to 350 patients could
be treated in one day. At present, the maximum number is 170.
During the year 1926 the total number of individual patients
treated has been 341, and the total number of attendances has
been 10,416, giving an average of 30 attendances per patient.
Each patient attends twice or three times a week, according to
the prescription of the doctors, and the length of exposure begins
in all cases with a short period. With the mercury vapour lamps
the beginning exposure is from 20 sees, to 1 min., and the maximum
exposure from 10-15 mins., at a distance of 3ft. With the
carbon arc, the beginning exposure is five minutes, going up to a
maximum of one hour. In addition, all the patients of school
age, with the exception of one or two children are put through
a course of physical exercises based on the Board of Education
syllabus after the light treatment has been given.
Patients come from various sources; many are sent from the
Tuberculosis Dispensary and from the Maternity and Child
Welfare Clinics —both municipal and voluntary. Private practitioners
have made great use of the clinic, and have sent up a
large number of patients, and a smaller number attend voluntarily,
having heard from various sources of the existence of the clinic.
Patients suffering from many different diseases have been sent up
for treatment. Thus we have had many varieties of Tuberculosis,
e.g., Tuberculosis of bones and joints and glands, Tuberculosis,
enteritis, Tuberculous abdominal glands, and many cases
of enlarged bronchial glands, numerous cases of Lupus, and a few
cases of Pulmonary Tuberculosis have also been treated.
Alopœcia, Acne, Aortic Disease, Asthma, and Bronchitis, Dermatitis
of various sorts, Psoriasis, Neuritis, and Sciatica, various
forms of Rheumatism, Rickets, and Malnutrition are among the
more prominent types sent up for treatment.
Cases of Definite Tuberculosis of all forms comprise 27 per
cent, of the total number treated, while cases of Debility and