Annual report on the Medical Department / Sierra Leone.

  • Sierra Leone. Medical Department.
Date:
[1911]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Annual report on the Medical Department / Sierra Leone. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    13/146 (page 13)
    16 Out-patients.—The number of out-patients in 1911 was 30,228. The number in 1910 was considered phenomenal, viz., 31,795, as indeed it is, and though the number for 1911 is lower, it is still telling, as it is generally conceded that the year under report was “ healthy.” The falling off, therefore, is more a matter for congratulation, as resulting from the un¬ doubtedly improved sanitation and cleaning of the City. There have been complaints that out-patients are kept waiting for protracted periods before being attended to. This is inevitable from the restricted accommodation available for out-patients, and it must also be borne in mind that there has been no material or proportionate increase in the dispensing staff to cope with the steady increase in the out-patients during the past 10 years. On the other hand, a large number of people seek relief for minor ailments which the dictates of common sense and proper pride should make them attend to at home. Applications for purgatives, worm powders, simple dressings for minor injuries, etc., swell the list of free-treated patients who have no hesitation in pleading absolute poverty to suit their ends. Hospital Earnings.—The amount received from paying out-patients was £22 4s. 8d., which amount, when distributed over 30,000 patients, shows the extent to which they take advantage of the Hospital. Paying Intern. Patients contributed in 1911 the sum of £157 2s. Od. Operations.—The number of operations necessitating the use of anaesthetics during the year was 318. This is by far the greatest number for any one year as shown by tlie figures below. The attached Table gives a list, of the conditions necessitating operations and of the success attending them. The small number of deaths is a matter for congratulation. In 1902 „ 1903 1904 .. 1905 1906 1907 1908 .. 1909 1910 .. 1911 44 1 26 145 179 146 190 135 218 220 318 Operations. Laboratory.—This useful little department has struggled along under adverse conditions with no regular officer in charge of it. It has, however, been of the greatest assistance in Clinical and Diagnostic difficulties, and though no regular record has been kept of all the cases examined, there is sufficient evidence to prove its utility and to urge the necessity of having a larger room and a Medical Officer who can devote a definite period of each day towards examining specimens without the constant interruption and the enforced hurrying which his other duties entail. The number of cases in which Tubercle Bacilli were found serves only to strengthen the opinion expressed in a former report that Tuberculosis and Phthisis, in particular, are decidedly on the increase. Conclusion.—This report is necessarily short and beyond commenting on the returns I can do no more, as I did not assume charge of the Hospital until the end of December.