Report by the Central Board of Health of Jamaica / presented to the legislature under the provisions of the 14th Vic. chap. 60, and printed by order of the Assembly.

Jamaica. Central Board of Health

Date:: 1852

Credit: Report by the Central Board of Health of Jamaica / presented to the legislature under the provisions of the 14th Vic. chap. 60, and printed by order of the Assembly. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by King’s College London. The original may be consulted at King’s College London.

478/594 (page 168)

$pit poor persons are received, if they procure and present to tlie nuUroii an order signed by a justice, churchwarden, or vestryman. Sometimes such per- sons are sent in from distant parts of the parish in a cart. This institution is supported entirely by the parish, and a sum is raised for the support of it annually in the ways and means of the parish, under the head of *'Poor Asylum. A medical attendant is provid- ed for this institution, v/ho visits daily. His resi- dence is barely one mile from the asylum. There is also a matron and nurse, who reside in the institu- tion. The salary of the medical attendant is £50. That of the matron ±'20, and the nurse £l2, per annum. To supervise this institution a committee is annual* ly appointed, who, wiih the churchwardens, are ex- pected to visit it occasionally, and see that the de- tails of it are properly carried out. The persons re- ceived into this institution are ordinarily of the very poorest description, and are furnished, during their stay in it, with coarse clothing, marked Asylum on jt. Any person who presents an order from a jus- tice, churchwarden, or vestryman, is entitled to pre- scription and medicines, if not directed to be receiv- ed as an in-door patient. The buildings are parish property, and the annual cost of this institution va- ries from £200 to £240. ]\o. 8. The negroes are glad to get medicines, or to be received into the institution spoken of, in an- swer to query No. 7, and submit quietly to sucb treatment, as may be directed. No. 9. The dispensary act worked but indifferent- ly in St, Andrew's ; the failure of the act was the natural consequence of the very nature of the act; its provisions were unsuited to carry out the object contemplated. No act, having for its object protec- tion in periods of sickness to the poor, and getting for them constant and efficient medical assistance can i^ucceed, unless the medical assistant is adequately$