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.

482/594 (page 172)

$If 3 Appcndiot* otiglit to have done. Still nature is so kind that ill a natural process, such as parturiiion, she is not to be thwarted even hy officious inlerreit-nce, and tlie Lirth is happily consrimmatefl ii\ a vast nvajoiiiy of cases in spite of the malpractice crtlio midwiie. At the present time, 1 suspect the practice of these ivoraen to be more deieclive than it used to be under the old regime, and 1 dare sav, death sometimes to the mother, and sometimes to the child, is the result. l^hen I was in active practice, instance of death bcciirred occasionally from the malpractice of these midvvives, and oftentimes labours wliich would liavc terminated kindly, have been rendered untoward by improper early interference on the part of those peo- ple. Under many circumstances, however, th.ey are useful, anc! indeed their services are indispensihie, and if an evil, a necessary evil; but J looked upon it that the injuries which sometimes result from tiieir ignorance is much more than c(iunterbalanced by the amount of useful servit^e rendered. No. 20. infanticide is, 1 siiould say, as far as my fexperience guides me, an uncommon crime in this is- land. That some chihiren are lost from the false practice of ignorant mit( wives, there can be no doubty and the efiect of medical relief eOectually carried out, Xvould be to save some lives, mothers and children ^vhich arc occesionaily lost during tlie parturient [)ro- cess. No. There can be no doubt, but that to cstaj blish tiiroughoutlhe rural districts, medical gentlemen ^viiosc province it would be, l)y legislative eniictment^ to attend the peasantry professiciially; would be ex- ceedingly acceptalde to them, but unless they were pai(i eacii oiie a stipend for his ser^ icesj he could not exist, and J think it would be useless to ofier less than i:JOO a year. I hardly think competent and <i]ualitied practitioners could be prevailed on to efc>ta- Llish themselves in the mountainous districts of the ijsjand at a less rate. . No.- 22. A medical relief tax is the ou\)i method bj'$