Annual medical report / Colony and Protectorate of Kenya.

  • Kenya. Medical Department.
Date:
[1957]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Annual medical report / Colony and Protectorate of Kenya. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    13/52 (page 7)
    The institution of a system of fee paying for out-patients and in-patients attending at Government hospitals has had little effect on the overcrowding of many of our hospitals, the fall in admissions of 0-57 per cent being no more than a normal annual variation. Particular mention was made of Thika and Kapsabet hospitals in last year’s report. Overcrowding was still present in 1957, but new wards were under construction towards the end of the year. The overcrowding at Kisii hospital was also such as to demand further expansion. The number of beds in Government hospitals at the end of 1957 was 6,600; this figure is 66 per cent in excess of the number of beds available 10 years ago, whilst the number of beds per 1,000 head of population has risen from 0-75 to TO during the same period. The increasing use of Government hospitals during the last 10 years has called for a stricter selection of cases for admission; many of the types of patient who would at one time have been admitted to major district hospitals are now receiving competent attention at health centres. Infectious Diseases Hospitals The construction of a special poliomyelitis unit in Nairobi has more than justified itself. Poliomyelitis occurred in epidemic form during 1957, and many special nurses had to be recruited to work in the unit. The devotion to duty shewn by the staff during a very trying period was exemplary. The highest standards of treatment and nursing were attained and the public’s sympathy for the patients and gratitude to the staff has been amply expressed by the handsome contributions made to the Polio¬ myelitis Fund of the Kenya Branch of the British Red Cross Society. More than £8,000 has been contributed in a very short period. This money will be used to purchase specialised apparatus and to assist patients during the period of their illness and subsequent rehabilitation. The Port Reitz Tuberculosis and Infectious Diseases Hospital at Mombasa was improved in a number of ways and a new well-equipped ward was provided by the adaptation of an existing dwelling which was formerly occupied by the medical officer in charge. This old Royal Air Force hospital is beginning to show such signs of wear as to indicate that a considerable degree of replacement will be a matter of necessity in the not too distant future. Mental Hospital Services As in previous years, the Mathari Hospital has had to accommodate upwards of a 100 patients in excess of the bed establishment laid down. The resultant over¬ crowding places a heavy strain on an already hard worked staff. The Specialist Psychiatrist has in fact recommended that there should be an increase in the nursing staff and estimates that another two medical officers could be fully occupied in giving early and active treatment that nowadays gives such good promise of returning the patient quickly to normal balance. There are invariably about 100 convicted patients under treatment at any one time in Mathari Hospital and it is clear that a proposed “Broadmoor” type institution, apart from being administratively necessary, would alleviate the continued over¬ crowding. Some semi-permanent buildings which were formerly used as a hospital attached to the old Nairobi Prison have been found suitable, after modification, to serve as an asylum for convicts whose balance of mind is disturbed. It has, however, not yet been possible to transfer these special patients to their separate accommodation. Medical Stores The year proved a heavy one for the Medical Stores, and, although the organi¬ sation was strained at times, supply and handling of stores was maintained at a