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183
Upon the Managers of the Metropolitan Asylums District
is cast the duty of forwarding to the London County Council
a weekly return of all such certificates.
Crown Buildings or Properties are not subject to the operation
of the Act, and therefore cases of Infectious Disease
occurring in Marlborough House or St. James's Palace would
not become known to the Medical Officer of Health for St.
James's.
The Act has thrown a considerable amount of extra work
upon Medical Officers of Health and upon the local Sanitary
Departments generally.
It would be an advantage if all such notices were transmitted
free by post. Some of the notices that reach me
come chargeable with double postage, in consequence of the
senders not knowing that a penny stamp has to be affixed
to each notice that is sent to me by post.
In some cases I find that I receive duplicate medical
certificates for the same case. If a child, for instance, is
taken to a Dispensary and diagnosed as suffering from
Scarlet Fever, the Medical Officer of the Dispensary sends
on his certificate. If the child be laid up at home, and
the family doctor is called in, he also sends on a certificate.
There is one gap in the Act. In the case of a child
having mild Scarlet Fever, and no doctor being called in,
it is the duty of the father to notify the case to the Medical
Officer of Health. But under Sec. 10 the duty of forwarding
information to the Metropolitan Asylums Board is restricted
to cases in which the certificate of a Medical Practitioner has