Annual report of the Medical Department / Tanganyika Territory.

  • Tanganyika. Medical Department.
Date:
[1951]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Annual report of the Medical Department / Tanganyika Territory. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    Appendix ^ ‘MORBIDITY AND MORTALITY EXPERIENCE IN GOVERNMENT HOSPITALS The collection of accurate data relating to disease at treatment centrt presents many difficulties. At many of the smaller hospitals the diagnost facilities are primitive and it is only in Dar es Salaam that they approac United Kingdom standards. Furthermore, many of the staff responsible f( the diagnosis and treatment of out-patients are not medically qualified. Tt information presented in this Appendix has been compiled from returns sul mitted from Government hospitals and is based only on the diseases dea with at such institutions. It is not necessarily representative of the incident: of disease among the general population. It has not been possible to indue statistics of morbidity in respect of the Missions since the great majority a] not yet submitted in a form capable of utilization in these reports. 2. Vital statistics reflect the health of the people; they indicate conditior influencing health and are an indispensable means of measuring progress in th prevention of disease over the years. In the absence of any form of registry tion of births and deaths in Tanganyika there is no information as to th causes and distribution of mortality among the general population. Sue information as is available relates only to persons dying in the hospitals being a selected group, these figures cannot be applied to the general popuk tion. 3. Diagram 1 sets out the relative incidence of various disease group diagnosed in Government hospitals during 1951. The “Infective and Pan sitic” disease (Group I of Appendix VIII) contribute nearly one-third the total illnesses for which patients attended at Government hospitals; man of the diseases included in this group are preventable. Diagram 2 indicafi the ten commonest diseases recorded during 1951; these ten diseases accour for more than sixty per cent of the total attendances (in and out-patients at Government hospitals. It will be observed that malaria is the commoner disease. Respiratory diseases other than pulmonary tuberculosis are als commonly diagnosed and if the three diseases comprising ,the respirator group are added together, the total is slightly greater than the recorde incidence of malaria. Bronchitis is the commonest respiratory disease see in hospital. Ulcers and accidents are both common causes of illness necess fating in-patient treatment. Affections of the eye and venereal diseases ar particularly common as “out-patient” diseases. 4. As an indication of mortality in the general population hospital records as indicated above, are no more reliable than are those for morbidity. Hospih deaths only relate to hospital cases, and fatality rates in respect of diseases