View report page

69
other districts suffering from the disease. For the country as a whole
the proportion of deaths from respiratory tuberculosis in 1952 which were
not notified as cases during life was 19.4, a figure twice that of the 8.5
for 1938. The non-notified deaths from non-respiratory tuberculosis
were 33.8%. Altogether in 1952, 21 out of every 100 deaths from tuberculosis
were of persons who had not been statutorily notified. The
corresponding figures for this district were much lower ; but the position
in this last year was most unsatisfactory. 44 persons died on whose
certificates reference was made to tuberculosis even though this was
not always the cause of death. Of these, four were due to non-pulmonary
disease. Of the 40 deaths where pulmonary disease was mentioned. 11 of
the patients had not been notified. Of the four non-pulmonary cases,
one had not been notified. Seven of these death certificates related
to persons who had died in hospitals not in this district. The
disease in the patients whose death certificates had been signed by local
medical practitioners was old standing, in most instances the patients
having been recognised to be suffering from tuberculosis before the doctors
who signed the death certificates had taken over their present practices.
Register
Under the 1952 regulations the official register is now that kept
by the Chest Physicians. But whereas the register kept by the Medical
Officer of Health included all cases notified and the names of those
learned of by means other than by official notification, those kept by the
Chest Physicians were the working registers of the clinics and would,
therefore, not include the names of those who had not at any time attended
the clinic and possibly not of those who having attended at one time had
discontinued attending. For these reasons the numbers on the registers
at the Chest Clinics must be less than those on the registers kept in the
Public Health Department. The Minister, although making these
changes about the official registers, urged that Medical Officers of Health
would keep records for their own purposes. This is done in this district.
It is not possible to compare the numbers of those on the two registers
because both the Chest Clinics which serve the population of this district
accept patients from other districts.

Of the deductions, 115 (108 pulmonary) were of persons who had
left the district, 46 (42 pulmonary) were of persons who had died, 37