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37
A letter was subsequently received from the Clerk to the
Asylums Board acknowledging receipt of vonr Vestry's communication,
and forwarding a copy of the Report of the
General Purposes Committee, relating to the reception of cases
of Diphtheria into the Managers' Hospitals. In the said report,
which was submitted to and approved by the Managers at their
meeting on the 6th October, after reference to a " Memorandum "
on the subject by the Clerk, the Committee —
" Having regard to the length of time which has elapsed since the
decision of the Local Government Board was arrived at, recommend that
a further communication be addressed to that Board, asking whether they
are yetable to sanction the admission of Diphtheria into the Managers'
Hospitals, and pointing out that Dr. Markham, in his Report of 1866,
speaks of 'the necessity for the non-admission into Workhouses of
patients suffering from contagious Fevers,' including in that phrase
Diphtheria and Small-pox ; further, that the Royal Commission in their
Report, 1882, page xxix., refer especially to Diphtheria as one of the
diseases which require isolation, and also to the fact that in the classification
of the Registrar-General, Diphtheria is assigned a position amongst
the zymotic diseases after Scarlet Fever but before Enteric Fever.
" In the meantime, enquiries are being made of the Medical Superintendents
of the several Fever Hospitals as to whether, in their respective
opinions, it would be practicable to make arrangements at the establishments
under their control for the treatment of cases of Diphtheria, and,
if so, to what extent and in what manner."
At the meeting of the Board on the 6th October, the
Chairman of the Committee, Mr. Augustus C. Scovell, stated
that the reports he had received from the Medical Officers of the
Hospitals satisfied him that there would be no difficulty in the
way of the Managers making provision for cases of diphtheria,
and that if the Local Government Board could see their way to
reconsider their last decision, and alter it, there would be no
delay in making the necessary arrangements for the removal of
such cases to the Board's Hospitals, and placing them under
treatment in isolation wards. Referring to an objection raised
that the provision for diphtheria cases would reduce the accommodation
for scarlet fever, he observed that the two diseases