[Report 1940] / Medical Officer of Health, Ramsgate Borough.

  • Ramsgate (England). Borough Council.
Date:
1940
Catalogue details

Licence: Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)

Credit: [Report 1940] / Medical Officer of Health, Ramsgate Borough. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    of some million-to-one possibility, such as bomb falling through a ventilating shaft, he is safe. Secondly, the geographical position of Ramsgate led to very frequent air raid alerts during the day and also to a tendency for an attack to be made before any warning had been given. Thus, anyone above ground may have felt himself to be in continuous peril, nor was this more than the truth. Thirdly, there is the psychological effect of the constant use of such shelters. On the one hand, there is the exposure to constant danger, on the other almost perfect safety. A proportion of the population tended to adopt what seemed to them at first sight the easier alternative, and once the temptation to remain below ground was surrendered to, it was soon impossible to resist. Thus, slowly at first, but as the autumn advanced, more rapidly, an underground population grew up, which seldom came out of the tunnels at all, and Which erected shanties below ground to live, more or less, in a “ home from home.” But since under such circumstances no satisfactory home can be made and the worst housing conditions tend to be reproduced, the result was the creation of a slum; as, early in 1941, Lord Horder said. It must be emphasised that the number that took up this troglodyte existence was small compared to the population of the town, and must be differentiated from those who merely used the tunnel to sleep in during the night. But though the justification for their behaviour no doubt seemed in their eyes sufficient, in fact it was not so, since all had houses above ground, or could have had them if their own homes had been demolished, and every en¬ couragement had been given to them to leave the town. Obviously, a person permanently in the tunnels was no good to the town and, one would think, very little to himself, and also he was a potential source of help to the enemy, since his own deficient morale might easily be communicated to others. Those who during the day persued their normal avocations and only retired to the tunnels at night were in a different category. No doubt there are certain parts of the town which have been more heavily attacked than others and inhabitants of them may have felt that they wanted at least undisturbed nights. Even so, a danger to health was created by the use they made of the shelters which, though less objectionable than permanent residence therein, was. it must be remembered, ultra vires to their intended use. This was a problem analogous to that which arose in London and other large cities as a result of bombardment. Fortunately, 1940 came to an end without any serious epidemic disease breaking out either in the tunnel shelters, or elsewhere. Indeed, in spite of everything, the health of the town remained very good. Nevertheless, the threat of disease below ground seemed to this Department at least as great as the danger of bombing above it, and the latter part of the year saw much thought given by the Chief Officials of the Council, and by the Council itself, to the divising of regulations which should safeguard as far as possible the health of the users of the Tunnel Shelters and limit, in their own interests, the use to which they put them. At the end of December such regulations had been drawn up and approved by the Council. They were awaiting approval and modification by the Regional Commissioner. In the early Autumn a suggestion was received from the Ministry of Health that inoculation against organisms of the typhoid group should be offered to those who applied for it. The first step was to offer inoculation to the staff of the Ramsgate General Hospital, where it was accepted by nearly all and carried out by Dr. Dunlop. Subsequently members of the Health Department and of the A.R.P. services were canvassed and several accepted the offer. The Ministry of Health did not urge extensive propaganda in this matter which consequently was given only in an unobtrusive manner. A differ¬ ent policy was, however, urged with regard to diphtheria when, in early December, notice was received that immunisation of children against this disease should be carried out as expeditiously and as widely as possible. It is recognised by epidemiologists that diphtheria is the most lethal of the diseases of childhood, when once extreme infancy has been passed, and that since it is spread by infected droplets from the nose and throat scattered by coughing, sneezing and loud talking, it is peculiarly liable to break out in epidemic form in closely crowded air raid shelters. A form of immunisation has been devised which in highly efficient and without danger and the Minister of Health advised that this should be made available at once and to all. In the areas of many authorities, immunisation schemes had been in operation for many years. This was not true of Ramsgate, but effect was at