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7
Tuberculosis.—Beside 233 cases notified, there were otherwise reported 25, making a total of 258 new cases.
The Dispensary was carried on throughout the year as in normal
times.
Deaths from tuberculosis numbered 89, of which 9 were of the nonpulmonary form.
Death rates for all forms of tuberculosis and for the pulmonary
form alone, which increased steadily from 1938 to 1941 and which
dropped appreciably in 1942, have remained at substantially the same
level in 1943. The death rate for the non-pulmonary forms of the
disease showed a slight increase in 1943, but is still less than half that
of 1941.
In contrast to the trend of the death rate for the last two years,
the notification rate for pulmonary tuberculosis has continued to rise
both in 1942 and 1943, while the non-pulmonary notification rate
remains at a fairly high level.
While there is no doubt that there has been a considerable increase
in the number of cases of tuberculosis in the population during the war
years, the continued and increasing disparity between the rates for
deaths and for notifications may be partially explained by the use of
mass-radiography in the Forces and in the industrial population and by
the increased attention given to the disease generally—both of which
are factors leading to unusually early diagnosis and notification of the
disease.
There still appears to be no increase in incidence of tuberculosis
among females of the industrial age group (15—34) as compared with
all female notifications, while the number of notifications among children under 5 years of age has returned to more usual proportions.
Tuberculosis Allowances.
In recognising the principle of providing allowances for persons
undergoing treatment for pulmonary tuberculosis and for their dependants, the Government has undoubtedly made a great advance in
tackling the problem of tuberculosis. Even given ideal circumstances
the treatment of the disease is no easy matter and when, as is usual, the
economic factor obtrudes, it may become very difficult indeed and often
Impossible. The provision of free treatment was, of course, of great
benefit but it failed to meet the needs of a large number of patients
who, being breadwinners, left their families in financial difficulties when
they undertook sanatorium treatment. Now such patients can give up
their work knowing that their families will not be in actual want,
although in the scheme as it stands the benefits are unevenly distributed
and, where there is no other breadwinner, the standard of living of the