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65
by myself and approved by your Vestry, in 1877, that "the expenditure
incurred in the treatment, in the Managers' Hospitals,
of all cases of infectious disease, should be a charge upon a
Metropolitan common fund," by whatever name called.
MEDICAL INSTRUCTION AT THE HOSPITALS.
The Poor Law Act, 1889, among other valuable provisions,
authorises the Managers, if they think fit, "to allow the Asylums
provided by them for fever, small-pox, and diphtheria, to be used
for purposes of medical instruction, subject to any rules and
regulations which the Local Government Board may from time to
time make" (section 4). The Managers have decided to allow
their hospitals to be so used, as contemplated by the above-named
Act; and regulations for giving effect to the plan have been submitted
to and approved by the Local Government Board. The
advantages proposed are intended for medical students, who have
practically no opportunities at general hospitals for becoming
acquainted with the characters and the treatment of infectious
disease, which are now almost entirely excluded from those institutions.
The minimum period of study for students (who will be nonresident)
is two months, with a minimum attendance of not less than
two days in each week. Eacn student who satisfactorily completes
the course of study, receives a certificate to that effect from the
Board, after it has been signed by the Medical Superintendent.
The rules do not apply to the Small-pox Hospital Ships at Long
Reach, but probably some provision will, under suitable rules, be
made for the residence of a certain number of students. Happily,
opportunities for study of small-pox at the ships are, and long
have been, on the smallest scale. Last year only twenty-six
patients were admitted.
Reference to the work of the Asylums Board in 1890 may
be fitly concluded by the following Table, showing the number of
cases admitted to the Managers' Hospitals from the several
Parishes and Unions which, it will be understood, are not conterminous
with the sanitary districts:—
D