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8
MEDICAL INSPECTION.
The arrangements for the medical inspection of vessels by your Medical
Officers at Gravesend continue to work in a most satisfactory manner, owing
largely to the courteous co-operation of the Inspector of the Waterguard,
J. C. Elliott, Esq., I.S.O., and the Officers of H.M. Customs stationed at
Gravesend.
There has been a large influx of alien immigrants during the past year,
principally from Russian ports. The passage is short, these vessels carry no
Medical Officer, and one or two children on landing were found to be
suffering from Measles. This disclosed the necessity for medical inspection at
Gravesend.
A letter, enclosing a copy of the bye-laws relating to infectious disease,
was sent to all the shipping companies bringing alien immigrants to London
pointing out the responsibility of the Master, who should satisfy himself
before the arrival of the vessel at Gravesend that no person was ailing, and
reporting accordingly to the Boarding Medical Officer, In all, seven cases
were found, four of these were Measles and three Continued Fever. This
special arrangement accounts in a great measure for the increase in the
number of passengers medically inspected, as shown in Table I.
No relaxation has taken place in the medical inspection of vessels from
ports where Cholera, Plague or Yellow Fever are known or suspected to exist,
and the number of vessels medically inspected during the year shows an
increase over the return for previous years.
The arrangements for the boarding of vessels at Sheerness, in conjunction
with His Majesty's Coastguard, are still carried out in a very satisfactory
manner by your Medical Officer, Dr. Legge. The number of vessels at
present which succeed in passing the Station and proceeding up the River
Medway without a visit from your Medical Officer is so small as to be
practically unimportant.
The s.s. " Beethoven," of Sunderland, from Odessa, arrived at Gravesend
on the 23rd July, and in reply to questions put to the Master he stated
that " all were well on board and no sickness had occurred during the voyage."
Vessels arriving from Black Sea ports are all medically inspected, and your
Boarding Medical Officer went on board the vessel. During his inspection
of the crew he found a man in the wheel-house suffering from Enteric Fever,
who was removed to the Port Sanitary Hospital. Enquiry showed that this
man had been ill in his bunk for a week previous to the arrival of the vessel,
and that on reaching Gravesend the captain had ordered him to stand in the
wheel-house while the "doctor" was on board. But for the detailed
examination and medical inspection of the crew, this case, in all probability,
would have escaped attention owing to the false statement made by the
Master.