Report of the Principal Civil Medical Officer and Inspector-General of Hospitals / [Ceylon].

  • Ceylon. Civil Medical Department.
Date:
[1921]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Report of the Principal Civil Medical Officer and Inspector-General of Hospitals / [Ceylon]. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    HOSPITAL Education, &c.] REPORT OF THE PRINCIPAL CIVIL MEDICAL OFFICER AND INSPECTOR-GENERAL OF HOSPITALS FOR THE YEAR 1921. I have the honour to submit the following report on the health and sanitation of Ceylon and on the administration of the institutions of the Ceylon Civil Medical Department for the year ending December 31, 1921. Section I.—Population. 2. According to the Census taken on March 18, 1921, the total population of Ceylon, inclusive of immigrant coolies (but exclusive of military and shipping), was 4,497,686 (of these, 8,421 were Europeans). This total population is an increase of 391,336 over the figures of the previous Census taken in 1911. Section II.—Public Health. 3. Vital Statistics.—183,920 births were registered, which is equivalent to an annual rate of 40'5 per 1,000 of the population, as compared with 163,720 births and an annual rate of 34 06 in 1920. The deaths registered in 1921 amounted to 140,749, as compared with 132,955 in 1920, which is equivalent to an annual rate of 31 • 0 per 1,000, as compared with an annual rate of 27 ’ 66 in P920. In England and Wales during 1921 the birth-rate was 22*4 per 1,000, and the death-rate 12 * 1 per 1,000. 4. With regard to the causation of deaths, the following table shows the same, registered under the several classes of disease :— 1.—General diseases— (а) Epidemic diseases .. 10,360 (б) Septic diseases .. 167 (c) Tuberculosis diseases . . 3,387 (d) Venereal diseases .. 252 (e) Cancer or malignant diseases. . 433 (/) Other general diseases .. 13,079 VI. —Non-venereal diseases of genito¬ urinary system and annexa VII. —The puerperal state VIII. —Diseases of the skin and cellular tissues IX. —Diseases of bones and organs of locomotion X. —Malformations 1,821 3,862 i 10,824 23 19 II.- —Diseases of the nervous system and XI.- —Diseases of early infancy 7,714 organs of special sense 16,625 XII. —Old age 4,924 III. —Diseases of the circulatory system. . 1,044 XIII.—Affections produced by external IV. —Diseases of the respiratory system. . 11,710 causes 2,661 V.- -Diseases of the digestive system 24,240 XIV.—Ill-defined diseases 27,604 5. The more notable causes of death were the following diseases :— 1. Infantile convulsions 14,477 10. Anchylostomiasis and its sequelse 2,930 2. Diarrhoea 12,573 11. Puerperal septicaemia 1,667 3. Pneumonia 6,708 12. Malaria 1,502 4. Rickets 6,462 13. Enteric fever 668 5. Anaemia 4,515 14. Tetanus 230 6. Intestinal parasites 4,300 15. Rabies 18 7. Dysentery 4,255 16. Deaths attributed to pyrexia of 8. Dropsy 3,265 unknown origin . . 21,381 9. Phthisis 3,148 I' 7_ The above list is based on the given causes of deaths, but it must be remembered that only a proportion of the cases were certified to by a qualified medical man, and hence the figures, although serving as a comparison with previous years, cannot be looked upon as at all reliable as regards the true causes of death. The large number of deaths attributed to pyrexia of unknown origin, for example, is a proof of the lack of satisfactory registration of the actual causes of death. 6. Infantile Mortality.—The infantile mortality, i.e., the deaths of children under 1 year of age per 1,000 births during the year is looked upon by sanitarians as affording the most important index as to the general sanitary conditions, and the continued high rate in Ceylon is a proof of the slow progress made in sanitarv improvement in the Island generally. In the 33 principal towns the infantile mortality during the year was at the rate of 238 per 1,000 births, as compared with 228 in 1920, 259 in 1919, and 252 in 1918. In England and Wales in 1921 the rate was 83 per 1,000 births, and in 96 of the great towns in England was 87 per 1,000 births. Some efforts to effect an improvement in this condition was made by increasing the facilities for training midwives (52 were trained at the Lying-in Home, Colombo, in 1921), and appointing more of them to Government institutions and encouraging their employment on estate hospitals. A creche was started in Colombo by the efforts of certain ladies, and an ante-natal clinic was started at the Lying-in Home to give advice to expectant mothers. Real progress in the reduction of infantile mortalitv depends mainly on the possibility of education creating a belief in modern hygienic principles amongst the mass of the population. It is said by local medical men that there is an increasing tendency to a reduction in the breast feeding of infants amongst the indigenous population, and this is to be deplored. 16(xv)22/284 7