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75
Report of the Medical Officer of Health.
(6) It will enable the Medical Officer of Health to notify
if the patient removes to another Borough in London
or to the Provinces.
it would also be, i think, advisable for the Council to offer
to have the sputa from cases of Phthisis examined free of charge,
similar to what is done in cases of Typhoid Fever and Diphtheria.
To carry out this work the co-operation of the medical men
practising in the Borough is absolutely necessary, but i have not
the slightest doubt but that such help will be freely given, as it
has always been in the past.
The fee proposed to be paid to medical practitioners for such
notification of cases of consumption should be similar to what is
paid at present in cases of scarlet fever, diphtheria, etc., viz.: —
2/6 for each case notified in private practice, and one shilling for
each case notified in public practice.
in Manchester, with a population of 546,000, the total number
of deaths from Phthisis during the year 1901 was 1,142, equal to
a rate of 2.09 per 1,000. in Liverpool, with a population of 686,000,
1,302 deaths occurred, or a death-rate of 1.9 per 1,000. Wh1le 1n
Wandsworth, with a population of 243,000, the number of deaths
was 259, or a rate of 1.10.
1n Manchester 1,339 cases, and in Liverpool 1,797 cases, were
notified, so that if in this Borough the same proportion of cases to
deaths were notified by medical men the number ought to be about
300. The actual cost of notification alone would therefore not
be great.
in connection with this system of notification the subject of
providing suitable Sanatoria for the treatment of this disease is
presently being considered by several Authorities.
That such Sanatoria will prove a boon to those suffering from
consumption there is no doubt; but, in my opinion, the permanent
good to be obtained will, to a great extent, be minimised if means
are not taken to secure that the patient ever after, or at least for
many years, is not permitted to resume town life and work. The
true solution would be for such patients to be permanently
employed in the open air, and the provision of farm colonics, either
at home or in the Colonies, would be a necessary adjunct to the
treatment in Sanatoria.