Health Committee's report / City of Melbourne.

  • Melbourne (Vic.). Health Committee.
Date:
[1925]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Health Committee's report / City of Melbourne. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    3/28 (page 3)
    With five exceptions, the metropolitan municipalities approved of the scheme. The measures for prevention and preparation of human serum for early treatment of cases were controlled by a small Executive Committee of representative Medical Officers of Health, of which the Council's Medical Officer of Health (Dr. T. W. Sinclair) was Chairman. The Directors of the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute (Dr. C. F. Kelle- way) and of the Commonwealth Serum Laboratories (Dr. W. J. Penfold) kindly co-operated with the Executive Committee in connection with the taking of blood and preparation of serum for treatment of patients. It is considered that the attention directed to cases in the first half of the year was largely responsible for the' reduction in the incidence of the disease in the latter half of the year, and in minimising the number of carriers. INFECTIOUS DISEASES HOSPITAL. The Council's contribution towards the maintenance of the Queen’s Memorial Infectious Diseases Hospital for 1925 amounted to £8,024/15/1, as compared with £6,704/0/6 for the previous year. PROPOSED EMERGENCY EPIDEMIC HOSPITAL. A reply to the deputation from the conference of Metropolitan Munici¬ palities which waited upon the Minister of Public Health on August 7, 1924, and urged the State Government to provide for the cost of erecting the proposed Emergency Epidemic Hospital, was received, from the Depart¬ ment of Public Health to the effect that the responsibility of providing accommodation for the infectious sick lies on Councils, in accordance, with the provisions of the Health Act and in the event of the occurrence of any infectious disease not treated at the Queen’s Memorial Infectious Diseases Hospital, Fairfield, it would be the duty of each Council to make the necessary provision. The City Council expressed its willingness to act in combination with the other municipalities in providing the necessary hospital accommoda¬ tion, but as the majority of the municipalities did not favour the proposal no further action has been taken in the matter. HEATHERTON SANATORIUM. The Council’s contribution towards the maintenance of the Heatherton Sanatorium for 1925 was £1,491/6/2, as compared with £1,546/18/19 for 1924. SMOKE NUISANCE. Thirty complaints of smoke nuisance were received during 1925,.and 183 inspections and observations were undertaken. Alterations were effected at nine premises for prevention of nuisances from smoke. CONDEMNATION OF HOUSES. Vigilance regarding the insanitary condition of premises was again exercised by the Committee. During last year 548 premises were con¬ demned, of which 326 were repaired, 31 demolished, and at 191 work was in progress at the end of the year. Two stables were also condemned, of which one was demolished and the other discontinued. It is interesting to note that 1,108 premises in the City have been demolished since 1913, under orders made by the Council on the recommendation of the Com¬ mittee. FOOD. During the year 326 samples of various kinds of food were pur¬ chased for the purpose of analysis in accordance with the provisions of the Health Act. The 'samples comprised:—Milk, 289; mustard, 12; white pepper, 11; ground ginger, 6; powdered cinnamon, 1; ground nutmeg, 1; sausage meat, 6. The number of milk samples (16) below the standard was equivalent to a percentage of 5.5. No samples were found to contain any prohibited preservative.