Report of the Medical Officer of Health / Municipality of Colombo.

  • Colombo (Sri Lanka). Public Health Department.
Date:
[1946]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Report of the Medical Officer of Health / Municipality of Colombo. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    6/8 (page 6)
    Contacts. Of a total of 1,905 contacts of the age groups between three and 15 years, 1,654 proved negative to the tuberculin test. This implies that more than 85 per cent, of those tested were susceptible to grave tubercular infection and indicated the danger to which the young people in the City are exposed. X’RAYS. The absence of an X’ray plant has proved an insurmountable obstacle to the progress of the Municipal Tuberculosis Service. Hospitalized and Discharged Cases. The procedure at present adopted by the Government is not in conformity with the arrangements mutually agreed upon between it and the Council. Many cases from the City go direct to Chest Hospitals without any reference to the Chief Medical Officer of Health, and it is not always that discharged cases are reported to us for purposes of follow-up and after-care. These lapses on the part of the Government point to a deplorable lack of co-operation with this Council in its effort to bring tuberculosis in the City under proper and effective control and only help to nullify the preventive work attempted by us. Health Education and Propaganda. Fox this specific purpose an officer was appointed as a result of representa¬ tions made by me but, unfortunately, his services have not yet been made avail¬ able for the urgent work of health education and propaganda in the Municipal Tuberculosis Service. MILANIUS DE ALMEIDA, March 25, 1947. Special Officer, Chest Diseases. Annexure G. REPORT OF THE MEDICAL OFFICER, MATERNITY AND CHILD WELFARE, FOR THE YEAR 1946. During the first three months of the year under report we were still handi¬ capped without the assistance of our field nurses who were still away on special smallpox duty. Since then we have made appreciable advance in our attempt to get back to normal conditions and to establish our service as firmly as before. Our Maternity Wards continue to be of great service to the poor. This movement has now completed ten years of existence. Up to the end of last year 7,924 cases have been delivered. During 1946 deliveries at the Maternity Homes at St. Paul’s and New Bazaar have far exceeded the number we are able to ac¬ commodate normally, whilst at Modera there was an increase of 28 per cent, as compared with 1945. It has to be mentioned that there are mothers who have visited our wards for the sixth and seventh time fot their confinements and in several cases all their babies have been delivered in our Homes. This is the greatest tribute they have paid to this service. The tables annexed show the attendance at our ante-natal clinics and the number of deliveries conducted by our midwives in the district and Maternity Homes. We are glad to record an increase in the numbers in both these departments. The incidence of dental disease among our clinic mothers is appallingly high. The damage this disease causes both in the mother and in the child in utero need hardly be stressed. The establishment of a dental clinic for our Welfare Centres at an early date is now clearly indicated. March 26, 1947. J. E. D. MENDIS, Medical Officer, Maternity & Child Welfare.