Annual report on the Medical Department / Straits Settlements.

  • Straits Settlements. Medical Department.
Date:
[1933]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Annual report on the Medical Department / Straits Settlements. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    12/134 (page 6)
    The distribution of the population, on an estimated total of 1,038,827, was as under: — Singapore ... ... ... ••• ••• 5I4>5oo Penang ... ... ••• ••• ••• 182,613 Province Wellesley ... ... ... ••• 1351287 Dindings ... ... ... ••• ••• 18,130 Malacca ... ... ... ••• ••• 180,892 Eabuan ... ... ... ••• ••• 7>4°5 1,038,827 The deaths registered in the Straits Settlements were classified as follows : — Singapore Penang Province Wellesley Dindings Malacca Labuan Total Died in hospital 3,724 1,011 339 98 492 11 5,676 Certified by private medical practi¬ tioners 2,330 718 1 266 18 3,333 Certified by registering officers .. 3,333 1,994 38 1 434 • • 5,800 Uncertified .. 2,193 1,314 3,200 428 3,065 193 10,393 Total .. 11,580 5,037 3,578 527 4,257 222 25,201 The greatest accuracy in recording the cause of death was attained in Singapore city, where 64.5 practitioners. per cent, of the deaths were certified (b).—General Diseases by registered medical Beri-Beri.—The deaths registered as due numbered : — to beri-beri in the last 10 years Year Number of deaths Year Number of deaths 1924 910 1929 944 1925 973 1930 ... 1,047 1926 ... 1,098 1931 911 1927 ... 1,528 1932 725 1928 ... 1,146 1933 721 Attention was drawn in the 1931 report to the fact that a diminished mortality from beri-beri has coincided in past years with periods of lessened prosperity. The figures for 1932 and 1933 bear out this observation. Pneumonia.—Pneumonia accounted for 1,992 deaths compared with 1,860 in the previous year. One thousand three hundred and five deaths from this disease occurred within the Singapore city municipal area. Convulsions.—This term is used to cover a number of incorrectly diagnosed cases. Three thousand nine hundred and eighty-four deaths were recorded in 1933 as due to convulsions as against 3,815 in 1932. This figure represents 15.8% of the total deaths in the Straits Settlements. Cancer.—A large proportion of the population of British Malaya is of immigrant origin, with a vast turn-over of persons coming and going, giving an average duration of residence of about three years. This immigrant element naturally tends to disturb the sex ratio, on the one hand, and the age distribution, on the other. It accounts for the low average age at death, which is probably between 25 and 30 years. In ^ leoi^ra^S Settlements, for example, the proportion of persons 55 and over was only 4-3% f°r ^ie. ma^e population and 5.2% for the female population, while in the state of Kelantan it was 7-3% for males and 7.2% for females. But considering individual laces or racial elements, for the Malaysians it is shown that at ages 55 and over the Portion is 5-8% for males and 5-5% for females; for the Chinese this proportion is for males and 5-i % for females; for East Indian immigrants from India the proportion was only 1.5% for males and 1.3% for females. Hence, the conclusion that the age distribution of male Chinese and Indians, who together constitute 59.7% S. rnale population, is mainly determined not by natural causes but by the age distribution of immigrants.