Report of the Health Officer, Corporation of Madras Health Department.

  • Madras (India). Health Department.
Date:
[1938]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Report of the Health Officer, Corporation of Madras Health Department. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    162/178 (page 138)
    STAFF;— During the year under report the Scheme was worked by the Lady 'Superintendent, assisted by 5 Lady Doctors, 21 Health Visitors and 82 Midwives. The services of the Maternity Supervisors were terminated as tthe Council had not sanctioned the same. During the year under review 2 Lady Doctors underwent Post-Gra- :<duate Course in Maternity & Child Welfare for six weeks and 12 Mid wives were sent for Refresher Course training at Rajah Sir Ramaswami Muda- :!iarfs Lying-in-Hospital, Royapuram, for a period of 3 months. As the Scheme was already working with insufficient staff, many of -the Health Visitors who worked under great strain fell sick and went on leave. Substitutes could not be appointed in their places, as candidates with prescribed qualifications were not available with the result that home •‘Visiting suffered considerably. The Red Cross Society having closed their health school, Govern¬ ment started a training school for Health Visitors during the year 1938 It is hoped that Madras Corporation would be able to secure the services •. of a sufficient number of qualified persons in future. PRE-NATAL CLINIC. During the year under report, one satisfactory feature of the Scheme was the increase in the number of Booked Cases. 13,129 Booked cases which were 92.9% of the total births as against 10661 (84%) of the previous year actually attended the Clinic held in various Centres and sought medical advice and treatment. The expectant mothers have just begun to realize the importance of pre-natal clinic with the result that the attend¬ ance at various Centres was increased and in some Centres the Clinics were over crowded by pregnant women of all stages. This was really encouraging and with adequate number of Health Visitors, the Scheme is bound to be in touch with every pregnant woman in the City. :. I MATERNITY SERVICE. During the year 14,118 labour cases which were 45.5 % of the total births came under the care of the Scheme as against 14,589 cases (47.7 %) : for the year 1937. Of these 12463 cases were conducted by the Midwives of the Scheme, 771 were taken over after the labour was conducted by Barbar women, 884 cases were sent to various Maternity Hospitals before delivery as they were mostly complicated. In a few instances, even normal cases were sent to hospitals for want of accommodation and attendance at their homes. 2,316 were Mohammadans and 11,802 were non-Mohammadans. The Midwives paid 1,68,940 visits during the year as against 161,166 of the previous year. The total number of visits paid by the Health Visi¬ tors was 1,04.211 as against 1,36,788 for the previous year and they also registered 9,240 pre-maternity cases. The five Lady Doctors paid 5*642 visits as against 5,322 in 1937. They also treated 3,300 morbid cases. Infants and Toddlers Clinics were also conducted by the Lady Doctors. The total attendance at the Clinic was '9599 as against 9750 of the previous year.