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7
To the Chairman and Members of the
Orpington Urban District Council.
Mr. Chairman, Ladies and Gentlemen,
Health, although a weighty matter, is at the same time somewhat
an imponderable, particularly when good health is concerned, for
people's standards vary so much in what they can and do expect of
health. However, when we come to consider Orpington's health, the
majority would undoubtedly agree that it has a good record which was
in no way tarnished during 1962. Notifiable infectious diseases were
comparatively few, it not being a "measles" year, but in addition the
number of cases of whooping cough fell from 122 in 1961 to 3 in 1962.
One case of paralytic anterior poliomyelitis occurred, and this should
act as a spur to those who may have been lax in seeing that their
families are protected against this disease, and against diphtheria,
which could also still arise unexpectedly in the community.
It will be noticed that the number of doctors' signatures authenticated
on International Certificates of Vaccination rose from 457 in
the previous year, to 4,561 in the year under review, and this huge
increase gives some idea of the repercussions of the smallpox outbreak
which affected the country in the early months of 1962. Although no
cases occurred in Orpington, one was notified in another authority's
area not far removed from here, and a good deal of local anxiety
was caused at the time.
The problem of cancer is always with us, and although there was
an overall drop in the number of deaths caused by this disease, yet
deaths from lung cancer rose to 47 from 43 in the previous year.
Although this increase is not great, it is a step in the wrong direction,
particularly when we consider that the corresponding figure for 1953
was only 19. That the cigarette played a major part in most of these
deaths is certain, and we no longer have the excuse that the association
between smoking and lung cancer is unknown to the public at large.
Indeed the facts seem to be very well known, but despite this, the
confirmed smoker is always only too ready to find some reason why in
his or her particular case, it would be more dangerous to give up
smoking than it would be to continue the habit. One must be fair,
and admit the abandonment of this habit is not easy, and that there
is no apparent certain cure for the addiction, but it would be encouraging
to see more people making the effort involved. This is, of
course, a national problem with local implications and some small
encouragement seems to be derived from the requests received by
British Railways to increase the non-smoking accommodation on some
trains, including those serving Orpington. In addition to the deaths