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To the Chairman and Members of the
Edmonton Urban District Council.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
I beg to present to you my Report for the year 1923 on the sanitary
conditions and vital statistics for the District of Edmonton.
The infectious complaints have not been prevalent this year with the
exception of Tuberculosis; it will be noted with alarm that there is an increase
of 63 names on the Register at the end of 1923, compared with that at the end
of 1922—an increase of 7 per cent. What are the means by which the
bacillus is disseminated ? Roughly, the answer is:—infected milk; indiscriminate
spitting and non-disinfection of the phlegm; inefficient isolation of
the patient; unknown cases. As regards the latter, I hope to get in touch
with local medical practitioners and have the sputa of those suffering from
chronic bronchitis examined during the year. What is being done with regard
to the former? I am afraid the only answer is, Education; and when the
individual is ineducable, what then? I wish that those railway and other
companies which possess bye-laws re spitting on their premises would put them
into effect more frequently, and that Edmonton possessed such bye-laws.
The death-rate this year—excluding foreign inmates of institutions in the
district—is 9-5 as against io-8 for 1922. A quarter of these deaths are due to
affections of the heart and lungs, and another quarter to tubercular affections
and cancer.
It is satisfactory to note that the death-rate per 1,000 of population for
diphtheria has fallen in the last 3 years from 0.48 to 0.09; the corresponding
figures for London are 0.25 and 0.13. I attribute this to the thorough swabbing
of all possible sources of infection.
The Maternity and Child Welfare Clinics are increasingly appreciated by
mothers; the attendances for the children have increased by nearly 900 over
that of last year, whilst the attendances at the Ante-natal Clinic have increased
by 108.
The increased accommodation due to the building of a new doctor's room
will facilitate the work in this Department.
The amount of milk granted this year is 8,900 pints more than for 1922.