Report on means of isolation in Victoria / by Dr. Gresswell.

  • Board of Public Health, Victoria.
Date:
[1890]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Report on means of isolation in Victoria / by Dr. Gresswell. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine Library & Archives Service. The original may be consulted at London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine Library & Archives Service.

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    Melbourne Medical Association, 11th June, 1896.— That, iu the opinion of this association, it is urgently desirable that a special hospital for the treatment and isolation of persons suffering from infectious diseases should be established without delay; that, in order to afford medical relief to persons who may suffer from scarlet fever during the present epidemic, some temporary accom- modation should be immediately obtained ; and that an appeal be made to the municipal authorities, or, if necessary, to the Government, to urge the necessity of carrying out these reforms. Medical Society of Victoria, 12th June, 1896.— The providing of means for isolation and treatment of persons suffering from infectious disease is, for the metropolis of Melbourne, an urgent want, imperatively demanding tlie consideration of the community, the absence of such accommoda- tion being at all times a source of great hardship, and, during outbreaks of infectious disease, a cause of widespread suffering and danger. Tn the same month, the Board again urged the question upon the consideration of the metropoHtan councils. Most of the councils rephed that they were acting in concert with the view of making the needed provision ; but some still hesitated to take any action—the Hawthorn Council, for instance, stating that they had resolved, and the Coburg Council that, for the time being, they also had resolved, to do nothing in the matter. In the following November, I again drew the attention of the Board to cases of severe hardship inflicted on poor families as a result of the want of means for isolation—hardships which, though for downright barbarism difficult to match, were of frequent occurrence in the metropolitan area. Then, in order that the matter might be again considered, the Mayor of Melbourne convened, in January, 1897, a Metropolitan Municipal Conference ; and, in the following March, he called a public meeting, at which it was resolved— That a fund be instituted for the purpose of erecting an infectious diseases hospital as a permanent memorial in Her Majesty's honour, and in commemoration of her long and beneficent reign, such hospital to be called the Queen's Memorial Hos])ital; and that an appeal be made to all classes of the community to join in making such memorial worthy of the event to be com- memorated. A fund having been accumulated of over £16,000, an executive committee was formed in November of the same year for carrying out the work ; and means for isolation in the metropolis, though limited in extent, will no doubt shortly be provided. Turning now to the extra-metropolitan districts, it is to be noted that, while for several of them some means for isolation have been provided, for the great majority of them no such provision has been made. As regards the former, the following par- ticulars may be mentioned. In September, 1893, a small permanent two-warded hospital for isolation-purposes was erected jointly by the councils of Daylesford, Mount Franklin, and Glenlyon ; though, owing to the proximity of the building to the general hospital, it cannot be used for infectious cases. In October, 1894, the managers of the Hamilton General Hospital desired to erect two isolation-wards on the grounds of their hospital; and, later, on my advice, they built them on an entirely independent site. The managers of the Castlemaine General Hospital, also, have provided accommodation for a few infections patients. Similar provision is now being made on the grounds of the Warrnambool General Hospital ; and funds have been collected for a like purpose at Wangaratta, Colac, Maryborough, and Stawell. There is, accordingly, promise of considerable increase of isolation-accommodation for districts outside the metropolis. II.—Isolation in its Geneeal Aspects. The purpose to he had in view, in snaking provision of the hind here referred to^ is twofold—-first, to defend the health of the community ; and, secondly, to afford medical aid to the individual sufferer. The well-being of the community as a whole is, of course, the subject of main concern to a sanitary authority. But in the matter under consideration, as generally in matters of public health, if the well-being of the com- munity is })rovided for, that of the individual also is in large part protected ; so that the twofold purpose, above spoken of, cannot in practice be dissociated. It may not, however, be irrelevant in this place to remark that persons, especialh^ those in poor circumstances, are generally in much greater need of medical attendance and good nursing when aflected with communicable disease, than when affected with disease of a non-communicable character ; so that, if there is reason for establishing institutions devoted to the treatment of persons in poor circumstances when suffering from non- communicable affections, there is reason far greater in weight for establishing insti- tutions for such persons when suffering from affections that are conimunicable. Still,