[Report 1912] / Medical Officer of Health, Wakefield City.

  • Wakefield (England). City Council.
Date:
1912
Catalogue details

Licence: Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0)

Credit: [Report 1912] / Medical Officer of Health, Wakefield City. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    77/132 (page 71)
    In my Annual Report for 1910 I had. suggested the establishment -oi a Tuberculosis Dispensary, and tlie suggestion met: with the favourable consideration of the Committee!, and the 'Chairman (Alderman Hudson) and! myself were deputed to visit several of the existing Dispensaries! and report. Wet did so, and on the 21st February, 1912, we presented a report describing thei working1 of the Dispensaries we had! seen and rconmiending the establishment of a Dispensary in Wakefield. After full consideration thei recommendations of the report were adopted, and the following report of thei Committee was submitted to the City Council and approved, the sum of £600 'being duly provided in the Estimates for thei municipal year 1912-13. “ In recommending to thei City Council the1 establishment of a “ Tuberculosis Dispensary in Wakefield, the Sanitary Committee beg “ to submit! the following considerations : — 1. Tuberculosis isi thei cause of an immense amount of sickness, “ mortality, suffering, and poverty amongst the inhabitants, “ especially the working-class inhabitants of the City. This “ has been; shown year after year in the Reports; of the Medical “Officer of Health. During the year 1911 not fewer than “92 persons died in the City from various forms of tuberculosis, and' “these deaths constitute 11 per cent, of thei total mortality. Of the “'various forms of Tuberculosis the greatest mortality is caused by “ Tuberculosis of the Lungs, or Phthisis, and 60 persons, mostly in “ the prime of life, died from this form of Tubereulosisi during the “year 1911. It is impossible to say with any degree of accuracy to “ what extent the disease prevails in our midst, but it certainly is no “ exaggeration to 'say that there are at least 300' person,& in the City “ at the present moment suffering from Phthisis in one or other stage '“ of the disease. “ 2. Tuberculosis is essentially a: preventable disease, and as “ such calls for thei intervention of the Sanitary Authority. The “ effective prevention of the disease requires a, variety of measures, “ but not the least important of these are the measures directed “ against the spread of the disease from person to person. Amongst “ the measures so directed the cure of cases in the earlier stages of the “ disease must be regarded a,s a preventative measure of the highest “ importance, for every case cured is a, focus of infection], actual or “ potential, removed. “ 3. From the 1st of January last, every case of Pulmonary “ Tuberculosis coming under the notice of a medical man: must be reported to the Medical Officer of Health. In making the notifica- “ tion of the disease compulsory, the Local Government. Board have “ urged on Local Authorities the importance of taking effective steps “ to stay the disease, and have expressly conferred on them the power