Report of the Medical Officer of Health / Municipality of Colombo.
- Colombo (Sri Lanka). Public Health Department
- Date:
- [1929]
Licence: Public Domain Mark
Credit: Report of the Medical Officer of Health / Municipality of Colombo. Source: Wellcome Collection.
47/70 page 25
![Next to the provision of soil sewers the open rain water drains in the slnni districts should be replaced by underground sewers to prevent the abuse of these drains. More public lavatories should also be provided in all congested area in accordance with the list already submitted. In order to deal with all the town refuse and to combat the fly nuisance Council has now under construction a second Refuse Destructor, but flies still breed in the many grassfields—of which there are 218 in the town—and in the various cattle sheds and dairies and private premises. Grassfields in the residential districts should be abolished as stealthy manuring is frequently done and it is not possible for the outdoor staff to make frequent enough inspections to prevent this. Fly breeding in cattle stables, &c., might be obviated by a by-law enforcing the provision of fly-larval trap manure enclosures as designed by Capt. E. Baber, R.A.M.C., and which are a gi'eat success. Lack of access to area like Rajamalwatta, Dematagoda, Maligawatta, &c., prevents the proper scavenging and dis]3osal of refuse. The sanitation of these areas cannot be improved unless and until access is provided by means of roads and lanes. Workable yet adequately compx-ehensive by-laws efficiently to control the many eating- houses and tea boutiques which cater to the public and the preparation and sale of articles of food such as ice-cream, sweetmeats, &c., are necessar5^. Where possible town water service should be extended and all drinking water wells abolished as nearly all of them are liable to contamination. Contaminated bathing wells should also be abolished or regularly chloi'inated at the owners expense. Finally, protective vaccination against typhoid should be more largely availed of by the public. Its protective value was fully proved during the Great War, and it is a pity that even the more educated classes of the community do not make better use of such a valuable prophylactic agent. Every effort is being made by this Department to popularize protective inoculation. During 1929, 85 anti-typhoid inoculations were performed at the Municipal Dispensaries and Municii^al Laboratory. XVL—Continued Fever. Total number of cases reported during 1929 was 280, but exclusive of port and outside cases there were 132 town cases, as against 127 in the previous year ^Vith 34 deaths. Reference to Spot Map 11. shows that the distribution of continued fever cases closely resembles the distribution of typhoid fever. This parallelism year after j^ear cannot be accidental. It would not be wrong therefore to regard the majority of the fatal cases of so called continued fever as really undiagnosed cases of typhoid fever. On the other hand a large number of these so-called continued fever cases must be regarded as due to influenza or other unrecognized causes. XVII.—Pulmonary Tuberculosis. (Phthisis pulmonalis-consumption.) 1,313 cases with 593 deaths were reported during the year, of which 7 were from port, 404 from outside city limits, and 902 town cases as compared with 910 town cases last year. The number of deaths was 593. Statement (37) shows the incidence by^ race and sex and Statement (38) the distribution by wards. (37) Phthisis during 1929, hij Race and Sex. Number of Town Cases. Race. Males. Females. Total. Europeans ... 3 ... — 3 Burghers 29 ... 21 ... 50 Sinhalese 249 ... 272 ... 521 Tamils 115 ... 43 ... 158 Moors 00 ... 61 ... 121 (38) Incidence of Phthisis Ward. No. of Cases. Fort ... 2 Pettah... 4 San Sebastian 36 St. Paul’s 51 Kotahena 79 Mutwal 72 New Bazaar 79 Maradana North 52 Maradana South 37 Dematagoda 41 Slave Island ... 39 Kollupitiya 12 Cinnamon Gardens 11 Race. Males. Females. Total Malays ... 10 12 ... 22 Others ... 23 4 ... 27 Total ... 489 413 902 ing 1929, by Wards. Ward. No, of Cases. Bambalapitiya 6 Timbirigasyaya 12 Wellawatta 16 Prisons 3 Vagrants and paupers ... 23 Untraced 327 Total town 902 Port 7 Beyond limits... 404 Gnind total 1,313](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b3149528x_0047.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
