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31
the annual expenses of, the proposed new Isolation Hospital.
Before proceeding to discuss the figures on which I have based
my report, it will be well to consider briefly the general subject of
the isolation requirements of this district. On this head there are
two factors in the population with which we have to deal, that are
of importance. They are :—
(1). Its being almost entirely a working class population.
(2). The large proportion of young children composing it.
The first calls for a high percentage of isolations to cases notified,
as in very few families are the conditions such as to favour effective
isolation at home. The second leads one to expect a high incidence
of infectious disease.
It becomes necessary therefore, in considering the establishment
of an isolation hospital in such a district, to first of all arrive at
what would be a proper proportion of the infectious cases to isolate
in hospital.
As will be seen from Table I, our average percentage of cases
isolated to those notified during the last three years has been about
45 per cent.
This low figure is one that, in the past, has been dictated by the
limited hospital accommodation at our disposal, and by no means
represents the percentage of isolation that is desirable, and indeed
demanded by, the circumstances above referred to. In my opinion
65 per cent of these cases at least, should be isolated, and even a
higher percentage than this should be aimed at in the future.
Owing to the rapid changes that have taken place in the district
recently, I have thought it best to go no farther back than three
years for the figures upon which to base the expectation of the
incidence of infectious disease in the near future.