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98
dangerous infectious disorder to and from hospitals and
places other than Asylums provided by the Asylum managers,
and may make reasonable charge for that use.
Section 10 of the Act enacts that the Medical Officer of
Health shall within twelve hours after the receipt of a certificate
of a medical practitioner, relating to a patient within
the Metropolitan Asylum district suffering from infectious
disease, forward a copy of that certificate to the managers
of that district, so that the amounts paid by the Local
Authority may be repaid by the managers.
The information which is forwarded to the managers by
the Medical Officers of Health in the Metropolis, in pursuance
of the above section, and which is in turn tabulated and
circulated by the managers at the end of each week amongst
the same District Medical Officers of Health, is of two-fold
importance.
"In the first place it keeps the Medical Officers of Health
informed of the progress of disease from week to week, not
only in their own districts, but also in districts contiguous
thereto, and so assists them in the performance of their
duties by enabling them to take prompt measures for the
eradication of disease in their respective neighbourhoods.
"In the second place it affords the managers authentic
information as to infectious disease in the Metropolis as a
whole, and by comparing the cases of infectious disease
admitted into their hospitals with the total number of cases
notified assists them in regulating the accommodation at their
disposal in a more satisfactory and comprehensive manner
than could otherwise be the case" (Annual Report Chairman
Asylums Board, 1889).