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6
The Mayor, Aldermen and Councillors of the Metropolitan
Borough of Bethnal Green.
Your Worship, Ladies and Gentlemen,
Though I was privileged to act as Medical Officer of Health
of Bethnal Green only during the last third of 1948 the honour
of submitting the report on the state of the Public Health of the
Borough during that year fell to me. Fortunately the task was
greatly simplified since the records are very full and have been
most carefully kept and I had the valuable assistance of Mr.
Slyfield, Chief Clerk, and Mr. Sharpe, Senior Sanitary Inspector,
and other members of the staff of the Department.
In addition I had help from Dr. MacGregor whose place
I took in the service of the Borough Council when the heavy
duties and responsibilities he was called upon to undertake on
his appointment as Senior Medical Officer to the London
County Council made it impossible for him to continue to act
as Medical Officer of Health of Bethnal Green as well.
The report for 1948, like several of its predecessors, is in
the nature of a summary and contains only brief comment upon
the more important facts and figures set out. In a general way
it is not out of place in this introductory note to say that as
shown by Vital Statistics at any rate the health of the people of
the Borough was satisfactory. In the matter of Infant mortality
there was a notable improvement, the rate which had been 45
per 1,000 births in 1947 being brought down to 23.6. This
figure, which may be taken as evidence of the excellence of the
Maternity and Child Welfare scheme operated by the Borough
Council, compares most favourably with the rate both of the
country (34.0) and of London as a whole (31.0). The general
death rate at 10.9 was lower than that for 1947 when it reached
13.8 per 1,000. In the case of Infectious Disease an increase is
shown, from 1,003 to 1,475. The condition responsible for this
was Measles, notifications of which went up from 235 to 857.
The epidemic of Poliomyelitis which had caused great anxiety
during 1947 happily died down before the end of that year and
showed no real tendency to recur in 1948. Other infections
call for no special reference, though perhaps it might be