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152
The Link and Linking up.
I am of opinion that the linking up or co-ordination of domiciliary
with dispensary treatment should be brought about by the
Medical Officer of Health, with the help of his department, for the
following reasons:—
1. All notifications of pulmonary tuberculosis are made to
the Medical Officer of Health.
2. The Medical Officer of Health is the official adviser to the
Local Authority on the measures that should be taken to prevent
the spread of pulmonary consumption, and he is the Chief Executive
Ofiicer in all administrative Acts having for their object the diminution
in prevalence, and the prevention of infection from this disease.
3. The local practitioners are in constant communication
with the Medical Officer of Health, in connection with tuberculosis.
He would therefore be in the best position to co-ordinate their
home treatment with that of the dispensary.
4. The dispensary being a sub-department of the Public
Health Department, as I have assumed it would be, it is already
linked with the Public Health work of the Borough.
5. As I have stated elsewhere, if tuberculosis is to be eradicated
from our midst, it will not be by medical treatment of cases,
but by medical treatment in conjunction with comprehensive preventive
measures, the latter predominating in any scheme of action.
How the linking up is to be accomplished has been in a certain
measure indicated in the foregoing parts of this report dealing
with dispensary and home treatment. A few further details will
be necessary to show the sphere of action of the Medical Officer of
Health.
All cases of pulmonary tuberculosis being notifiable to the
Medical Officer of Health, he will receive information of cases immediately
they are diagnosed. The following procedure as described
by the Medical Officer of the Local Government Board will follow.