View report page

59
the year. He is also in charge of the Humphrey Clinic
where ante-natal and birth control clinics are held.
During the year there were reported a number of
cases of " raised temperatures " which, though not
serious in themselves, became notifiable as puerperal
pyrexia under the Public Health Act, 1936. The
definition of puerperal pyrexia is " any febrile condition
occurring in a woman within 21 days after childbirth
or miscarriage in which a temperature of 100.oF. or
more has been sustained during a period of 24 hours or
has recurred during that period."
To the lay mind these cases of puerperal pyrexia
might give cause for alarm, but the raised temperature
may be due to maternal infection on the one hand and
to the far less serious conditions of influenza, etc., on
the other hand. The causes of the cases reported were
varied and the majority of them were not truly
maternal.
At the time these cases were reported there were a
considerable number of patients admitted to the hospital
over and above the usual number, but this should
not recur in the future because you have made fixed
rules regarding the number of cases to be booked in any
one month for admission to the hospital. It must be
made clear, however, that when a certain number of
cases are booked for one month, it is not possible to say
when during this period these cases will be admitted,
and it may occur that there will be a large number of
admissions occurring at the beginning of any one month
and a corresponding drop at the end of the month.
This must always be so.
No nursing homes are maintained in the Borough.