Annual report on the Medical Department / Sierra Leone.

  • Sierra Leone. Medical Department.
Date:
[1907]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

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

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    Results of Treatment. Deaths • •• r• • ••• ••• ••• 4 Relieved ... . ... 17 Cured ... ... 42 Not relieved 1 Remaining at end of year 2 The following shows the class from which the patients were derived Government Employes 27 Commercial firms 25 Shipping 6 Military 4 Clerical 2 Cable Company 2 Total 66 Of the Government Employes 24 belong to the Railway Department. The diseases met with were as follows :— Alcoholism ... ... 1 Blackwater Fever ... 5 Circulatory System ... 1 Debility... ... ... 2 Digestive System ... 12 Dysentery ... ... 1 Influenza ... 1 Injuries ... ... 4 Lymphatic System ... 2 Malarial Fevers ... 27 Nervous System ... 5 Rheumatism ... ... 4 Tubercle ... ... 1 The deaths were due to the following causes:— Ptomaine Poisoning ... ... 1 Septic Pneumonia ... ... ... 1 Blackwater Fever ... ... ... 2 Receipts and Expenditure. Expenditure ... ... ... ... £855. 7s. Od. Receipts ... ... ... ... ... £359. 5s. 4d. Deficiency made up by the Government ... £496. Is. 8d. From this return it will be seen that the Nursing Home as a paying con¬ cern is a failure. As an institution for the treatment of fever-stricken Europeans however, it has proved an unalloyed blessing, which the high appreciation expressed by those who have had occasion to enter it as patients amply proves : this is entirely due, in my opinion, to the European Nursing Staff of three Sisters engaged for duty at the Home. The building itself and its position in the centre of the town are however great drawbacks, and worse still is the system of half-Government and half-private control by which it is supposed to be managed, with the result that it is under no one authority’s control and the Government has to make up large deficiencies every year to meet the excess of expenditure over receipts. A special Ward or Wards, either as a separate building or as forming part of the General Hospital and worked entirely as a Government institution, would be a cheaper method in the end. This plan would save the expense of a European Matron at the Colonial Hospital, it