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115
SECTION VI.
PREVENTION AND CONTROL OF TUBERCULOSIS.
The Tuberculosis Clinic is situated at 13, Katharine Street.
The premises are not good, being cramped and noisy, though
measures have been taken to reduce noise getting into the consulting
room. The erection of three dressing cubicles has added to
the comfort of the patients. Sessions are held daily in the
mornings and afternoons except on Monday mornings and Friday
afternoons. An evening session is held on Tuesdays. The
Clinic is a sorting house for cases. To it come patients sent by
doctors, cases under observation and cases under treatment at home.
From it patients are drafted to various Sanatoria and Hospitals or
back to their private practitioner. It is essentially a consultative
and not a treatment centre.
I am indebted to Dr. J. C. McMillan, the Assistant M.O.H
tor Tuberculosis, for the greater part of this section.
It has been suggested by the Joint Tuberculosis Council that
throughout England the designation Tuberculosis Dispensary
should be substituted by that of Tuberculosis Clinic. There are
several points in favour of the change though the new designation
still lends colour to the popular but erroneous belief that the Clinic
is a centre for treatment.
An efficient Clinic should have an X-Ray plant on the premises.
Although the facilities for obtaining X-Ray reports and films are
good, the medical officer in charge of the Clinic loses the great
advantage of making his own screen observations and taking his
X-Rays. The patients also are put to some inconvenience by the
present arrangements. For the carrying out of Collapse Therapy
X-Ray control is absolutely essential.
Collapse Therapy as a Public Health Measure.
Collapse Therapy is one of the modern ways of treating
patients suffering from Pulmonary Tuberculosis. In suitable cases
it is a most valuable adjunct to the fundamental principles of rest,
fresh air and nourishing food; but applied without experience or
discrimination, the results are not infrequently disappointing. In
'he successful case the patient can return to work and carry on
with his treatment in the reasonable hope of an ultimate arrest of
the disease. Economically, this fonn of ambulant therapy offers
advantages over prolonged residence in a sanatorium, but unfortunately
many are not suitable.