[Report 1949] / Medical Officer of Health, Orkney County & Kirkwall Burgh.

  • Orkney (Scotland). County Council
Date:
1949
Catalogue details

Licence: Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)

Credit: [Report 1949] / Medical Officer of Health, Orkney County & Kirkwall Burgh. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    9/48 page 2
    2. AMBULANCES The County Council has one Mct#r Ambulance which serves the Mainland. I consider another Motor Ambulance to be necessary, for it occasionally happens that the ambulance is out removing a case of infectious disease and is urgently wanted elsewhere, and before it can be used for the second case it has to be fumigated and there is a considerable delay in removing the second case. A small light ambulance would suffice us for such occasions. Urgent cases from the Islands are brought in by air, or by special steamer. NOTIFIABLE INFECTIOUS DISEASES Tuberculosis (all forms) Scarlet Fever Pneumonia Poliomyelitis 19 cases (12 pul.; 7 non-pul.) Nil 3 cases Nil The total number of all Notifiable Infectious Diseases for the year was 22 cases. DIPHTHERIA IMMUNISATION During 1949? 112 pre-school children and 14 school children - 126 in all, were immunised. 'c The Medical Practitioners and the District Nurses endeavour to get the parents to all*w their children to be protected. A large proportion of the children have been protected and it is the intention to endeavour to get the children, who have now reached school age, and who were not protected in their pre-school days, to be immunised. I should like to mention that prior to the War, diphtheria was an uncommon disease in this County, and there has not been any cases in the County since early in 1944. The same remarks apply to Typhoid Fever. Scarlet Fever in this County is also another disease that is dying out. DEATHS Tuberculosis (all fomns) - 12, increase on 1948 of 4 deaths. Malignant Diseases - JE, a decrease on 1948 of 9 deaths. Apoplexy - 58, an increase on 1948 of 14 deaths. Heart Disease - 124 deaths. This figure has been increasing for years throughout the County, and is one of the problems of the day, or rather, its causative factor is, viz., acute rheumatism or rheumatic fever and other rheumatic conditions. Increase in deaths number 54. Pneumonia - Diseases of Respiratory Tracts caused 20 deaths - 9 of these were due to pneumonia, mostly to persons aged from 65 years to 85 years. Bronchitis accounted for 10 deaths in aged persons. Cancer - This has been a.slowly increasing cause of death for years, the figure for 1948 being 47 deaths, which showed an increase on 1947 of 13 deaths, but for the year 1949 there is a decrease of 9 deaths. At present, the cause of this scourge is unknown, but the Government is alive to the ravages of it and has passed a Cancer Bill which, no doubt, will be a very valuable means towards the diagnosis and treatment.
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