[Report 1962] / Medical Officer of Health, Dundee City.

  • Dundee (Scotland). City Council.
Date:
1962
Catalogue details

Licence: Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)

Credit: [Report 1962] / Medical Officer of Health, Dundee City. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    Domiciliary Midwifery: Compared with 1961, the number of births occurring to Dundee women within the City during 1962 rose by 24 to a total of 3,789 and of these 450 (11.9%) were domiciliary confinements. Difficulties were experienced during the year in recruiting domiciliary midwives and in order to improve the position it was decided to provide furnished housing accommodaton in one of the two flats to be formed in the house at Mains Loan formerly occupied by the Superintendent of the Rowans. It was also agreed to apply for car allowances for midwives and on going to press I am pleased to state that the Establishment Committee have acceded to our request. Clinic Premises : The new purpose-built clinic at the junction of Hawk- hill and Peddie Street was opened by the Lady Provost Mrs McManus,, on 23rd April. This clinic is a continuation of the Department’s policy of decen- tralisation and accommodates four health visitors, a dental officer and dental attendant. The plans for another smaller clinic in the Derby Street C.D.A. have been approved and now await the redevelopment of the area by the private architects entrusted with the task. Plans and costs for structural alterations to Nelson Street Clinic were approved during the year as well as the replacement of all obsolete furnishings. Welfare Foods : At the beginning of the year it was decided to change the welfare foods distribution days at six centres to co-incide with the Child Welfare Clinics in an effort to encourage the sales of welfare foods. Although this proposal pleased the majority of mothers uplifting welfare foods, it has done nothing to halt the continuing decline in issues which the following ficures show:— National Dried Milk Orange Juice Cod Liver Oil Vitamins 1957 107,686 (100%) 144,901 (100%) 26.384 (100%) 7,296 (100%) 1958 88,523 (82%) 90,298 ( 62%) 16,395 ( 62%) 6,977 ( 96%) 1959 77,537 ( 72%) 88,009 ( 61%) 16,180 ( 62%) 7,588 (104%) 1960 66,890 ( 62%) 84,154 ( 58%) 15,432 ( 58%) 7,437 (102%) 1961 50,730 ( 47%) 53,264 ( 37%) 10,924 ( 41%) 5,096 ( 70%) 1962 40,045 ( 34%) 31,049 ( 21%) 4,688 ( 18%) 2,568 ( 35%) Infectious Diseases: During the year the total number of cases of in- fectious disease notified to this Department and accepted as such was 2,435 (1,251 males and 1,184 females) a decrease of 537 from 196rs figure of 2.927. Poliomyelitis : An outbreak in the early summer caught the headlines in the local and national newspapers. The epidemic involved 40 cases; 27 were para- lytic and 13 were non-paralytic. 31 of the cases were under 5 years of age, 6 under 10 years and the remaining three consisted of a girl of 10 years, a youth of 19 and a man of 37 years. There was one death. Mass vaccination with oral vaccine for the whole of the City’s population was instituted and ten days later the outbreak stopped dramatically.