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Statistics, Infectious Diseases, Health Control Unit London (Heathrow) Airport

Twelve persons were refused landing because of the condition—3 each from India and Pakistan,
4 from Hongkong and 1 each from Iran and Spain.
Four persons with tuberculosis were landed despite medical recommendation to the contrary
(2 from India, 1 from Pakistan and 1 from Hongkong). There were, accordingly, 9 Commonwealth
immigrants refused entry on account of pulmonary tuberculosis (3 each from India, Pakistan and
Hongkong). The reason that the figure 10 is mentioned in the section on "Medical Inspection of
Commonwealth Immigrants" is that 1 immigrant arrived with known pulmonary tuberculosis and
was not discovered on arrival as were the others.
The total number of notifications sent out to Medical Officers of Health advising that the immigrant
should be referred to a local chest clinic for follow-up was 190 and 69 of these notifications,
additionally, were covered by a Form IB548 imposing a conditional entry upon the immigrant.
X-Ray Unit
The total number of immigrants X-rayed in 1969 was 4,229—of these 4,088 were Commonwealth
citizens. The figure of 4,229 compares with 9,585 in 1968. The decrease is due in part to the greater
number of voucher-holders now being examined and X-rayed in their country of origin and to the
extension of this examination to non-entitled dependants in country of origin. Another factor is that
in many Commonwealth countries, a would-be emigrant cannot obtain a passport to leave the country
without a full medical examination which includes chest X-ray; again, many training institutions in
the United Kingdom (technical colleges, hospitals and commercial undertakings, etc.) which take in
overseas students insist that, before they are accepted, they must produce evidence of successful
medical examination and chest X-ray from their country of origin.
During the year, some improvement took place in the accommodation allotted to the Radiographer,
and a small office was made available to her as a temporary measure pending the move in
1970 into the new arrivals terminal. Although very small, this extra space did provide some relief to
the exceedingly cramped conditions under which the Radiographer had had to work previously.

The passengers isolated, because they had arrived from locally infected smallpox areas, came
almost entirely from Pakistan and India, which countries still remain the prime sources of infection.