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31
Outfits for early Diphtheria, Phthisis and Typhoid diagnoses are kept
at the Public Health Offices, and anti-diphtheritic serum may be
obtained during the day at Lloyd Park, and at all hours from the Fire
Stations.
The serum is supplied gratuitously to those unable to pay for its cost
or administration, and during the year the local practitioners were
supplied with 279 bottles for injection of poorer patients, and 30 injections
for prophylactic or curative purposes were made by me or one of
the School Doctors.
Arrangements have been made for the removal of Scarlet Fever and
Diphtheria patients at any hour in case of urgency, and the medical
practitioners have been given instructions as to the procedure to be
adopted.
The Regulations issued for better control of infectious diseases among
school children have been strictly carried out, and, in addition, no child
who has suffered from Scarlatina or Diphtheria, home nursed or otherwise,
is re-admitted to school until seen by me.
The practice of gratuitous distribution of disinfectants to ratepayers
is still maintained although very considerably curtailed. When I first
became Medical Officer of Health the yearly outlay under this heading
was between one and two hundred pounds; probably now it does not
exceed twenty. It should be discontinued; it costs money and is
useless if not dangerous by giving a false sense of security to persons
who still believe that Diphtheria, Typhoid, etc., are the results of bad
smells from drains or foul sinks.
The disinfection by the Public Health Authority of rooms occupied
by persons who contract Scarlet Fever or Diphtheria has very little more
to recommend it.
These infections are personal, and nothing is really needed but free
ventilation of the room and its thorough cleansing by the householder.
The bedding and clothing of the patient perhaps might be steamcleansed,
as it requires more courage than the ordinary official possesses
to ignore entirely the practices of our grandparents and the prejudices
of the public.
The weekly examination of contacts has tended largely to educate
our people to a more correct view of the role played by disease carriers.
A further step in the direction indicated should not be difficult.