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6
Throughout the country, the reduction in the infant mortality
rate which we have witnessed in recent years has not been accompanied
by a lowering of the maternal mortality rate. Many of these maternal
deaths could have been averted if only the confinements had taken
place under conditions admitting of the best possible surgical asepsis.
If we are to have overcrowding throughout the country for some years,
how can we expect puerperal infection to be diminished? The only
sure and safe shield for the lying-in mother is a well-equipped and wellofficered
maternity home.
As Dr. Janet A. Campbell says: "The mother going into the
home should experience a sense of relief and should instinctively feel
assured of a successful issue." We, then, in the year of grace 1921,
have placed a beautiful maternity home at the disposal of our women
folk during the greatest period of their lives. There is no need to boom
the home, as each successive mother, restored to the bosom of her own
family and district, is a missionary who preaches the gospel of our
municipal obstetrical successes. The heavy fall in the national birth-rate,
whether a good or a bad thing for the country, only serves to bring
home to every student of such matters the great need for safeguarding
the welfare of every mother and child. Another noteworthy point is
the steady increase in the number of pregnant women who are attending
the Ante-natal Centre in Napier Street.
I doubt very much the wisdom of a Maternity and Child Welfare
Medical Officer endeavouring to examine more than twelve women in
a session; the numbers now flocking to the Centre to be examined by
Dr. Hill make it imperative that an additional session be arranged for.
Our mother and baby department is waxing strong, and with
developments in the air, your Maternity and Child Welfare Committee
might well smile when plaintive voices are heard asking how
comes it that London has an infantile mortality rate second to none.
A successful year's work at the Tuberculosis Dispensary falls to
be recorded. Dr. Donnelly has kept in touch alike with the patients
and the medical men who send them. Consultations in the homes of
patients have been held with family doctors, and I can testify that no
stone has been left unturned to advance the interests of the affected
families.
Mrs. Monk has been a pillar to every affected household and in
spite of many benevolent responsibilities eating up her time, she has