Annual report of the Sarawak Government Medical Department.

  • Sarawak. Medical Department.
Date:
[1962]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Annual report of the Sarawak Government Medical Department. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    population of 769,526. In addition there are 219 restbeds attached to the thirty static dispensaries run by the Medical Department. 13. There were eighteen private medical practitioners registered in Sarawak at the end of the year, in addition to the thirty government doctors and specialists, six Shell Oilfields doctors, three Mission doctors and one Peace Corps doctor. 14. There were four Government dental officers and 145 private dentists registered during 1962, but of the latter only six, including two employed by the Shell Oilfields Limited possessed degrees or diplomas scheduled under the Dentists Registration Ordinance, the others being registered under a special provi¬ sion of the Ordinance. 15. Outside Government Service, there was only one qualified pharmacist in Sarawak, attached to the Methodist Mission hospital at Kapit. Eighty-three annual licences to sell poisons on a restricted basis were, however, issued to business concerns during the year. 16. The number of midwives registered under the Midwives Ordinance was 440 of which 168 were in Central and 103 in Local Government employment. 17. It was decided, during the year that as from the first of January, 1963 all ulu dressers, at present in local authority service will be taken over by Government in implementation of its declared policy that all curative services will be a central government responsibility. The number to be taken over is twenty-one, making a total of ulu dressers in government employment after 1st January, 1963, of fifty-one. 18. Government’s total estimated recurrent expenditure for 1962 was $68,616,336.00 of which $7,161,561.00 was allocated to Health Services, representing approximately 10.4 per cent of total budget. This compares with 10.2 per cent in 1961, 11.1 per cent in 1960 and 10.9 per cent in 1959. In addition the sum of $1,738^738.00 was provided in the Development Estimates for work on development projects during the year. This included $805,000.00 for the Malaria Eradication Project, $195,298.00 for the Tuberculosis Control Scheme, $144,000.00 for the completion of the New Central Medical Stores, and $154,886.00 for the first phase of the New Kuching General Hospital. There was also a sum of $298,000.00 provided for items of Capital Expenditure and $50,000.00 for minor improvements to hospitals and dispensaries. II. GENERAL REVIEW 19. There has been no major event to report during 1962, comparable with the El Tor cholera outbreak which occurred during 1961. From October 19th, 1961 until 15th November, 1962, no further case of the disease was reported in Sarawak. During November and December, 1962, however, an outbreak of El Tor cholera occurred in the upper Serian District of the First Division, close to the border with Kalimantan. The outbreak was confined to kampongs situated on the upper reaches of two tributaries of the Sadong river with the exception of an isolated case which occurred in a downriver kampong. In all there were sixteen confirmed cases including three deaths. The last confirmed case occurred on the 10th December. Vaccinations were carried out in all affected areas, the total number done being 15,228. Strict measures were taken to prevent the spread of the disease, the origin of which is ascribed to an unconfirmed report of an outbreak across the border, in Indonesian Borneo.