Report on the public health administration of the Punjab.

  • Punjab (India). Public Health Department.
Date:
[1924]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Report on the public health administration of the Punjab. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    21/104 page 9
    18. The prompt submission of reports regarding the outbreak of disease is of scarcely less importance than accurate re- pistration. in order to effect an improvement m the both respects Government decided, as mentioned in the report for 1923, to make patwaris in the Lahore Division responsible for the maintenance of the birth and death registers and for reporting the occurrence of infectious diseases. The question of extending this system to all divisions of the Province and of effecting certain other changes that will enable District Health Officers to maintain direct touch with patwaris is now under the consideration of Govern¬ ment. In the case of rural areas the prompt reporting of outbreaks of epidemics and of rat mortality is all that can at present be reasonably expected, but in the case of Municipal towns—more especially those towns where a Medical Officer of Health is employed—complete and accurate statistics should be available in regard to the incidence of such diseases as plague, cholera, small-pox, pulmonary tuberculosis, enteric fever and diphtheria, but the humiliating con¬ fession must bs made that the true incidence of these diseases is quite unknown. A statement showing .the number of infectious diseases notified in the eight Municipal towns where Medical Officers of Health are employed are shown in Appendix G. Since knowledge of the existence of an evil constitutes the first step towards its mitigation proposals have been placed before Government which it is hoped will lead to a great improvement in the notification of infectious diseases—more especially those already notifiable under the Punjab Municipal Act—in Municipal towns. 19. During the year 1924, 51 births and 34 deaths were recorded at railway stations outside municipal limits against Births aad deaths amoDggt railway em- 33 and 21 respectively in the preceding year. pbjeJ’ The reported cause of death was “ fevers ”, 24 ; “ all other causes ”, 4 ; respiratory diseases, 3 ; cholera, 1 ; dysentery and diarr¬ hoea, 1 and injuries, 3. 20. There were 347 births and 118 deaths amongst Europeans and Anglo-Indians during the year as against 336 Births a id deaths amongst Europeans and 115 respectively last year. [Respiratory dis¬ and Anglo-Inuiaas. eases accounted for IS deaths, “fevers”, 13; plague, 3 ; dysentery and diarrhoea, 2 ; cholera, 1 ; injuries, 1 ; and “ all other causes,” 80. / 21. There were 3,999 births (28 per mille) and 3,340 deaths (24 per mille) amongst the non-military population of Births and deaths amongst the non- cantonments which constitute a decrease of military population of cantonments. tir.„ . ,, p • n 0-11 • in 296 m the former and an increase of 311 in the the latter as compared with the previous year. The deaths were classified as follows :— “Eevers ”, 1,577 ; all other causes, 874 ; respiratory diseases, 494 ; plague, 195 ; dysentery and diarrhoea, 120; injuries, 70 ; cholera, 6 and small-pox, 4. Section VI —Chief Diseases. 22. Cholera*—After two years of almost complete freedom from , _ cholera, the incidence of this disease in the year under review underwent a moderate increase, the total number of recorded cases and deaths being 4,118 and 3,351 respectively, as compared with 25 cases and 11 deaths in the previous year and 287 cases and 128 deaths in the year 1922. The mortality-rate was 0T6 per mille in the year under report, as compared with an average mortality rate of 0‘27 per mille during the preceding five years. But although no widespread epidemic took place the disease prevailed in 24 out of 29 districts, those mainly affected in order of severity being Lahore, (1,397 deaths) ; Sialkot, (399 deaths), Lyallpur, (378 deaths) ; Eerozepore, (221 deaths); Montgomery, (201 deaths) ; Amritsar, (191 deaths) ; and Gurdaspur, (117 deaths). The districts of Hissar, llohtak, Simla, Mianwali and Dera Ghazi Khan remained free from cholera throughout the year. The number of towns infected with cholera was 56 out
    No text description is available for this image
    No text description is available for this image
    No text description is available for this image