View report page

3
ANNUAL REPORT OF THE MEDICAL OFFICER OF HEALTH
FOR 1952.
Town Hall,
Anerley Road, S.E.20.
June, 1953.
To the Chairman and Members of the Urban District Council of Penge.
Mr. Chairman and Gentlemen,
I beg to present an Annual Report for the year ended 31st December,
1952, which has been compiled in accordance with Circular No. 2/53 of the
Ministry of Health.
The Vital Statistics of the district show a welcome improvement again this
year and compare favourably with other parts of the country. The birth rate
remains high, while infantile mortality and deaths from cancer and tuberculosis
are lower than in previous years. There has been an increase in the deaths from
respiratory diseases, but this is mainly due to the dense fog which affected this
area like other parts of the Metropolitan area in early December. The high
percentage of atmospheric pollution associated with this fog caused a large
amount of illness among those who suffered in any way with bronchitis or other
chest ailments, and especially among the elderly. Once again it is pleasing to
record that there have been no maternal deaths. A high proportion of the
deaths occurred among those over 65 years of age.
The welfare of the old people is very well catered for by various voluntary
bodies who provide meals at their homes and clubs for them to meet those of their
own age, but the problem of those who are not fit enough to enter old peoples
homes and are yet not really suitable for hospital still remains the biggest
problem. Accommodation for cases such as the paralysed and those suffering
from chronic heart disease is urgently required if these old people are not to be
left in conditions which are to be deplored.
There has been no case of diphtheria notified during the year, thus making
a period of five years since any previous case. It cannot be too strongly
emphasized, however, that immunisation remains a very essential precaution to
be taken by all those who have the care of children. In this district there is quite
an appreciable percentage of children who have not been immunised and it is
among these that the possibility of an outbreak is feared. In these days, when
diphtheria is not so common, it is possible for a case not to be recognised in its
early stages with a fatal result in that case and a rapid spread of infection among
the unimmunised.
Of the other infectious diseases there is very little change except that
measles has shown a large drop as was to be expected after the epidemic of the
previous year, and the large number of cases of Sonne Dysentery which occurred
in the last two months of the year and which is reported upon more fully later in
the report.