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140
(14) Number of Insured Persons on Dispensary
register on the 31st December 480
(15) Number of insured persons under domiciliary
treatment on the 31st December 278
(16) Number of reports received during the year in
respect of insured persons—
(a) Form G.P. 17 17
(b) Form G.P. 36 209
Contacts. Every endeavour has been made during the
past year to examine the contacts of every notified case, but
it becomes clearer and clearer every year in the examination
of contacts that a feeling of false security may be engendered
when no evidence of tuberculosis is found. As in many
other paths of medicine, a negative result should only be
interpreted as the non-discovery of the disease. Over and
over again experience has shown that a negative result
obtained at any time has had to be reversed a few months
later, and so this contact problem is much more difficult
than it appears on the surface. It would seem, therefore,
that to be of value, examination of contacts classed as negative
should take place at intervals. The contact differs from the
original case in that he is probably exposed not only to the
primary source of infection but also to the original case;
and it may be, with a careless patient, the risk of infection is
greater some years later. One very real difficulty is that
adult contacts usually refuse to be examined unless they feel
ill, and those who are merely seedy very often fight shy of an
examination: The number of contacts examined during
the year was 374.
Co-operation with Hospitals. In 1928, arrangements were
made for the X-Ray examination of tuberculous patients at
the War Memorial Hospital, and at the same time similar
arrangements were entered into for the provision of