Annual report / Medical Department, Fiji.

  • Fiji. Medical Department.
Date:
[1949]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Annual report / Medical Department, Fiji. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    4/38 (page 4)
    anti-tuberculosis work. As soon as transportable X-ray equipment is available, it is proposed to X-ray as many of the population as possible. In the meantime, mantoux tests are being continued and B.C.G. vaccination, which was introduced in September, is being administered to school children and contacts of active cases if mantoux and X-ray negative. Of a group of 2,658 school children in urban areas, ranging in age from 5 to 16 years, approximately 800 were mantoux negative and have received B.C.G. vaccination since this programme was instituted in September. Post-vaccina¬ tion mantoux testing reveals a conversion rate of between 96 per cent and 98 per cent. 31. In conjunction with the tuberculosis survey an anti-tuberculosis campaign is being carried out with the staff and hospital facilities available. 32. Tamavua Hospital provides 216 beds for tuberculosis cases and arrangements were well in hand at the end of the year to open additional wards to increase the capacity of this hospital. The conversion of a disused building at the Lautoka Hospital to provide an annexe to take 20 tuberculosis cases was nearing completion at the end of the year and the annexe will be brought into use as soon as the necessary furniture and equipment has been provided. Construction of additional tuberculosis annexes attached to regional and rural hospitals will be undertaken in 1950. Tamavua Hospital will then be reserved for patients who will benefit from specialist treatment, whereas patients who require rest only and those awaiting admission to Tamavua, in addition to advanced cases, will be accommodated at the annexes attached to rural hospitals. At the present time many of these cases have to be returned to the villages, where they are a source of danger to their fellow-villagers, for lack of hospital accommodation. 33. A representative Committee decided that the Colony’s war memorial should take the form of an appeal for funds for prevention, treatment and control of tuberculosis. The Govern¬ ment undertook to subsidize £ for £ of voluntary contributions up to a maximum of £20,000. A Central War Memorial Appeal Committee was established in Suva with branches throughout the Colony. The appeal, which extended over a period of three months, was most generously supported by all sections of the population and at the end of 1949 the magnificent sum of over £60,000 had been voluntarily subscribed, to which must be added the £20,000 contributed by Government. It is proposed to make the appeal an annual one and an Ordinance was passed during the November session of the Legislative Council setting up a Statutory Board of Trustees to administer the Anti¬ tuberculosis Fund. (6) LEPROSY. 34. Notifications of leprosy in Fiji for 1949 numbered 46. The Fiji Leprosy Hospital on the island of Makogai serves Western Samoa, Eastern (American) Samoa, the Cook Islands, Niue, Tonga, the Gilbert and Ellice Islands Colony and New Zealand, in addition to Fiji. All cases are compulsorily segregated on this island and the discharge rate, controlled by strict criteria of in¬ activity, remains satisfactory. There is a carefully controlled follow-up of discharged patients and the percentage of re-admissions has been low. There were approximately 700 patients in 1949. Dr. C. J. Austin, o.b.e., Medical Superintendent of the Fiji Leprosy Hospital, proceeded on leave to the United Kingdom in January, and returned to the Colony in December, during which time Dr. P. G. Griffiths acted as Medical Superintendent. Treatment with sulphetrone was initiated in 1948 and it has been established that this drug represents a very real advance in the treatment of cases of lepromatous leprosy. £5,000 was voted in 1949 to cover the cost of the importation of sulphetrone, iron and yeast in order that treatment on a fuller scale could be carried out. A copy of the annual report for 1949, prepared by Dr. Austin, Medical Superintendent at Makogai, setting out in detail the work of the Fiji Leprosy Hospital, is enclosed as Appendix III. An interesting report by Dr. Manson-Bahr on investigations carried out at Makogai into anaemia associated with sulphetrone treatment is enclosed as Appendix IV. (7) ANTI-MALARIAL CONTROL. 35. In addition to the usual measures instituted in the Health Department to combat mos¬ quito breeding, intensified anti-mosquito measures are in force at the airports in the Colony especially directed to prevent the introduction of anopheles mosquitoes which, so far, are not present in the Fiji Islands. Nadi is the only port of entry for land planes from malarial areas, Laucala Bay, Suva, for seaplanes from malarial areas, and Suva for surface craft. Interchanges of population between countries involve real danger of the introduction of malaria and the anopheline mosquito by ship or aircraft. It has, therefore, been necessary to continue anopheline prevention measures in and around the above air and sea ports. 36. Up to the end of 1948 the anti-malarial control scheme was financed from Colonial Development and Welfare Funds and grants totalling £90,400 had been received for this purpose. From the 1st January, 1949, responsibility for the provision of funds for this work was assumed by the Fiji Government and expenditure in 1949 amounted to £F12,007. Residual spraying with D.D.T. and regular inspections at the Nadi Airport are undertaken and the drainage system is kept under repair. Regular check surveys were carried out at Nausori Airport, the Laucala Bay Airport and the Suva wharf area. 37. Responsibility for mosquito control work in the Suva town area rests with the Suva Town Council. Regular house-to-house inspections are carried out and notices served on the occupiers of premises in which mosquito larvae are found. (8) FILARIASIS. 38. In 1944 a campaign was started against filariasis by the elimination of the vector mosquito (Aedes scutellaris-pseudo scutellaris) from the vicinity of towns and villages. Thirty-nine inspectors and four supervising inspectors, all locally trained, are at present employed. Apart from eliminat¬ ing the breeding places of mosquitoes near Fijian towns, the general sanitation of these villages has been improved through the activities of the Filariasis Inspectors.