Annual report on the Medical Department / Straits Settlements.

  • Straits Settlements. Medical Department
Date:
[1932]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Annual report on the Medical Department / Straits Settlements. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    as due to convulsions as against 4,607 in 1931. This figure represents 15% of the total deaths in the Straits Settlements. (c).—Dangerous Infectious Diseases Plague.—No case of plague occurred in the Straits Settlements during the year. Cholera.—One case and one death were reported from an adjacent island. Small-pox.—There were eight cases of small-pox, five of which proved fatal. All eight cases occurred in Singapore. Cerebrospinal fever.—Only eight deaths from this disease occurred during 1932. (d).—Other Infectious Diseases Tuberculosis.—Two thousand one hundred and sixty-eight deaths were reported as due to pulmonary tuberculosis, of these 1,088 occurred in Singapore city. While it must be admitted that very many cases of pulmonary tuberculosis escape detection, available statistics tend to show that tuberculosis is not on the increase. Housing improvement schemes and town planning schemes which are now in progress it is hoped will give a downward trend to the mortality curve for this disease. Special accommodation is provided in each Government hospital for tuberculous cases. At the General Hospital, Singapore, special treatment is available and similar accommodation is provided for in the new hospitals at Penang and Malacca. Tuberculosis wards at out-station hospitals are almost wholly occupied by advanced and hopeless cases. The following tables show the downward trend of the mortality:— 1930 1931 1932 Estimated population of the Straits Settlements 1,168,806 1,118,511 1,147,205 Total deaths from all causes 31,928 27,369 24,541 Death-rate per thousand 27.32 24.47 21.39 Total deaths from pulmonary tuberculosis 2,795 2,587 2,168 Pulmonary tuberculosis death-rate per thousand 2.39 2.31 1.89 Year Deaths from tuberculosis Deaths from tuberculosis in the Colony in Singapore city 1927 2,903 1,523 1928 2,727 1,411 1929 2,710 1,500 1930 2,795 1,622 1931 2,587 1,377 1932 2,168 1,088 That pulmonary tuberculosis is an urban problem rather than rural is shown by the following figures:— Estimated Death-rate from Number of Tuberculosis Population all diseases deaths from death-rate per per thousand Tuberculosis thousand Singapore Municipality .. 470,271 20.12 1,088 ] George Town (Penang) .. 152,908 20.93 338 r Cities 2.31 Malacca Municipality 39,710 22.13 107 i Rural areas of Colony 484,316 22.63 635 Rural areas 1.31 (e).—Malaria The year 1931 was considered remarkable for the large decrease in the number of deaths attributed to malaria and fever unspecified, but the figures for the year 1932 show a still larger decrease. The figures for the last seven years show the progressive decline:— Year Malaria Fever unspecified Total 1926 6,452 2,398 8,850 1927 6,283 2,161 8,444 1928 5,798 1,636 7,434 1929 4,648 1,764 6,412 1930 5,018 1,995 7,013 1931 3,506 1,513 5,019 1932 2,601 2,051 4,652 This progressive decline may be ascribed to several factors. In the first place, during recent years the incidence of malaria in Malaya has been comparatively light, for reasons not yet ascertained. In the second place many sick and debilitated persons have left the country. There has been little immigration of non-immune persons, and there has been little movement of