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56
ment Board, twenty-five per cent. (£250) by the London County
Council and twenty-five per cent. (£250) would come out of rates
of the Borough of Poplar.
The figures, £1,200, are approximate, and it was considered by
the joint Sub-Committee and the Executive Committee of the
Dispensary, that at the end of each year an adjustment should be
made providing always that the Council shall in no case be liable
for more than fifty per cent. of the total expenditure of the Dispensary;
provided also, if 50 per cent. of the expenditure of the Dispensary
should in any one year not amount to the £1,200 to be paid
by the Council, then the Dispensary will refund the difference.
Since the meeting of the joint Sub-Committee, we have received
a copy of the Annual Report of the Dispensary (which we are informed
has been sent round to each member of the Council) shewing
the number of patients treated at the Dispensary. Insured persons
have not been treated since 30th June, 1913. Upon page 14 of this
Report, under the heading of 'Attendances at the Dispensary during
the year,' there were 1899 new cases and a total number of attendances
of 8,310, of whom 438 patients were found to be tubercular. The
Dispensary also examines free of charge, the specimens of sputum
submitted to the Medical Officer of Health, for the presence of the
Tubercle bacillus.
The £1,200 will, of course, secure the continuance of the following
among other advantages provided by voluntary support but for
which public funds are not available :—
As will be seen from the Report of the Dispensary, beds,
bedding, etc., are loaned (page 8), and in urgent and necessitous
cases food and fares are supplied (page 22); also in co-operation
with other voluntary agencies, children suffering from the disease
secure the advantage of admission into convalescent homes in
the country (page 18). The Dispensary Nurses and Voluntary
Care Committee made upwards of 1,000 visits to the homes of
patients during the year. It should also be remembered that the
Committee arranged and maintained a Tuberculosis exhibition for
one week for educational purposes in the Borough.
In any agreement which is drawn up, the Dispensary Committee
will, on completion, again receive insured persons for treatment,
resident in the Borough of Poplar, the payments to be made quarterly
by the Borough Council to the Dispensary Treasurer, and in submitting
the agreement to the Local Government Board and the
London County Council, a copy of the Annual Report of the Dispensary
should accompany the Agreement, as this will show that the
scheme which has been working in Poplar for nearly two years