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year, The use mode by practitioners of the continuous
oxygon service for patients with pneumonia, heart
failure etc., increased from 38 cases in 1945 to 73 in
1946. The gas and air analgesia service also increased
from 33 cases in 1945 to 84 in 1946.
It is of interest to note the services now
available to the public in the various sections of the
department; The personal health services provide antenatal
clinics; infant management teaching clinics for
expectant mothers; midwifery service and obstetric
specialists; maternity outfits; gas and air analgesia;
premature baby cots; home helps; special arrangements
for unmarried mothers; infant welfare clinics; breast
feeding clinics; health education, lectures, film shows;
marriage guidance; care of foster children; adoptions;
day nurseries; diphtheria and whooping cough immunisation
clinics; medical and nursing inspection of children
in schools; school medical inspection clinics, minor
ailment treatment clinics, ophthalmic clinics, orthopaedic,
physiotherapy and remedial exercises clinics;
dental inspection of children in schools, dental clinics,
orthodontic clinics, specialist dental clinics, dental
X-rays, appliances laboratory; child guidance clinic,
speech therapy clinic, continuous oxygen apparatus;
cleansing station; ambulance service.
The sanitary and environmental services deal
with housing defects, overcrowding, the medical aspects
of housing priorities, nuisances, food milk and water
control, cow-sheds and dairies, ice cream premises,
insect and pest control, shops, restaurants, bakehouses,
common lodging houses, factories, hawkers' vehicles,
petrol stations, massage establishments, drains and
sowers, smoke abatement, chemical and bacteriological
analyses, infectious diseases and disinfection.
Preventive medicine has achieved remarkable
successes in times gone by, although it receives little
of the spectacular applause accorded to clinical medicine.
Nevertheless there remains much to be done. We have
not yet solved the problems of prevention of tuberculosis,
rheumatism, cancer, poliomyelitis, the common cold and
many other afflictions. Medical officers and their
staffs have little time to spare for special investigations
into the causes of disease. The smaller local
authorities have not the resources to establish special
research teams, but such teams should bo within the
resources of the larger authorities and arc needed.
Just as today the Medical Officer of Health
refers his eye cases to the ophthalmologist,or his
orthopaedic surgeon, so might he refer to a team of experts
for solution the many problems still confronting
him,
Once again I have to acknowledge the groat
loyalty of the staff and their unfailing willingness,
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