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71
Sanatorium vacancies were offered, with the consequent saving of
hospital beds.
The problem of the chronic sputum-positive case remains as
great as ever. There are 85 such cases attending the Clinic for
supervision. In a number of cases there are in the homes of these
patients child contacts who require very careful supervision.
B.C.G. vaccination will be available in the near future which will
provide an additional safeguard for children thus exposed to
infection.
These schemes have provided much additional work at the
Clinic with consequent increase in the duties of the nursing and
medical staff. For example, the number of patients attending
for pneumothorax refills has increased from 15 per week in 1946 to
65 per week in 1949.
X-rays are essential for the early diagnosis. In 1945, 625 Xrays
were taken. By 1949 this number had been increased in the
year to 3,646. At present the Clinic has no X-ray apparatus of
its own, which is a very regrettable fact. Without such apparatus
being freely available in a chest clinic the control of Tuberculosis
must be deficient, and the treatment given to patients, especially
those undergoing collapse therapy, must be very unsatisfactory, if
not often dangerous.

There were also 4 deaths from Pulmonary Tuberculosis, and 1
from Non-Pulmonary Tuberculosis among non-clinic patients,
making the total deaths in the Borough 53.