Annual report of the Department of Public Health, Province of Alberta.

  • Alberta. Department of Public Health.
Date:
[1937]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Annual report of the Department of Public Health, Province of Alberta. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    23/296 (page 19)
    The number of operations reported by hospitals in 1937 was 32,916. The number of deaths following these operations was 464, giving a mortality rate of 1.409% as compared with 1.69% in 1936. The total capacity of approved hospitals, including the Central Alberta Sanatorium, at the end of 1937, was 4,513, divided as follows: General . 2,415 Maternity . 653 Infants . 644 Isolation . 228 Pediatric . 384 Tuberculosis . 374 This represents one bed for every 172 of the population or approximately 6 beds per thousand population. Patients treated in the approved hospitals in 1937 numbered 84,175, representing 10.8% of the population of the Province. The average length of stay in hospital, excluding Sanatorium, Ortho¬ paedic and S.C.R. patients, was 12.4 days. The average cost per patient day' in all approved hospitals was $2.79 as compared with $2.69 in 1936 and $2.88 in 1935. The following new hospitals were opened during the year, making modern hospitals available for the people of the districts served: Lacombe, Canmore, Medicine Valley, Battle River, Fort McMurray, Beaverlodge, Myrnam, Lac La Biche (Smoky Lake and High Prairie re-opened). Municipal Hospitals. There were 23 municipal hospitals in operation during the year. In these hospitals accommodation was available for 757 patients, including babies. In the municipal hospitals of the Province, 17,518 persons received treatment in 1937, representing 20% of all patients receiving hospital treatment in the Province during the year. A detailed statement giving general information in regard to hospital administration and covering all hospitals in receipt of Government grant will be found in the report of the Hospital Division. Division of Tuberculosis Control. This Division was established following the proclamation of The Tuberculosis Act on June 1st, 1936. There was a marked increase in the work of this Division in 1937. The number of treatment beds available for Tuberculosis was increased during the year from 342 to 374. There was an increase of 18.75% in the total patient days in the Sanatoria as compared with 1936. There was a marked increase in the work of the diagnostic clinics in 1937 as compared with 1936. The clinics made 3,573 examinations during the year, an increase of 60% over the previous year. As a result of the activities of this Division, 222 new cases of Tuberculosis were discovered. If we include in this summary the examinations made of children attending Indian schools, we find that no less than 7,387 examinations were made during the year by the diagnosticians on the staff of the Tuberculosis Division, an increase of 240% over the previous year.