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42
During the year an important deputation waited upon the
Metropolitan Asylums Board in order to urge the desirability of that
Board undertaking the isolation of cases of Consumption. The
memorial of the Metropolitan Branch of the Incorporated Society of
Medical Officers of Health showed that between seven and eight
thousand persons, of whom the large majority are adults in the prime
of life, die every year in London from Consumption, the mortality in
the male sex being some 40 per cent. greater than in the female sex,
and that a much larger number of persons (also chiefly adults) suffer
from ill-health arising from the same disease; that great loss occurs to
the community from such sickness and the deaths which result; that
persons suffering from Consumption may be divided roughly into two
classes: (1) those in the primary stage of the disease, which is curable
and not specially infectious; and (2) those in the chronic stage of the
disease, which is incurable and very infectious; that for those in the
primary stage of the disease hospitals are required wherein the patients
may be treated with the view to cure, and for those in the chronic
stage Refuges wherein the patients may be isolated so as to be
prevented from spreading the disease to others; that the present
provision of hospital accommodation for Consumption in London is
totally inadequate, and that, in connection with such provision as there
is, great difficulty and consequent delay is experienced in obtaining
admittance thereto; that the need for Sanatoriums arises from the fact
that it is practically impossible to treat poor persons in their own homes
or in Poor Law Infirmaries in London with any reasonable hope of
cure; that the great bulk of the cases occur amongst the poor and the
poorest classes of the people, who are unable to make any contribution
towards the expenses incident to Sanatorium treatment.
It is well known that many persons reduced by Consumption to
a state of poverty drift into the workhouse and become a permanent
charge upon the rates, often leaving widows and orphans in a state of
destitution, whereas many such persons might be cu???ed if Sanatorium
treatment were made available for them in the early stages of their
disease. When, however, the circumstances and surroundings are
such that measures of prevention are impossible and there is a serious
danger to other members of the family, the Metropolitan Asylums