Report of the Commission appointed to enquire into and report upon the general and infantile mortality; together with Minutes of the Sittings, Evidence of Witnesses, &c.

  • British Guiana.
Date:
1906
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: Report of the Commission appointed to enquire into and report upon the general and infantile mortality; together with Minutes of the Sittings, Evidence of Witnesses, &c. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine Library & Archives Service. The original may be consulted at London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine Library & Archives Service.

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    paper from the Poor Law Commissioners, or Secretary of the Poor Law Board, or any member of tliat Board, is attended to. Witness: It is absohitely impossible for one man to do it with all the other work. I think you refer to Dr. Hodgson ; he could not possibly do it. By the Surgeon General: Q. 852. What about the medical officers at the Public Hospital ?—A. From what I hear—it is not from my own experience—the people are not well attended to. Q. o53. That is their opinion ?—A. From the numl)er that go there I think that they cannot possibly be attended to. Q. 354. Do you know how many doctors we have at the Hospital ?—A. I think one a day to look after the out- door poor. Q. 855. Will you be surprised if I tell you we have seven doctors at the Hospital to-day ?—-A. No, I would not be surprised. Q. 856. They attend to the poor whether they bo out-door or indoor patients ?—A. Yes, Init my point is that there is one there each day to attend to people calling with tickets, and these might be 200 or 800. The Surgeon General: There is gener- ally somebody to help him—sometimes three doctors. Witness : Take an ordinary day with 200 new patients. The Surgeon General: I am not awai'a that we have a couple of hundred of new patients daily. Witness : I do not mean new patients ; they might be old or new. I am going also by what the hospital doctors have told me. It is impossible to do it pro- perly. By the Chairman : Q. 857. This Malta system, I take it, is not in connectioji with the hospital ? —A. No, not in connection Avith the hospital. They have a hospital as well. Q. 858. The doctors are private practi- tioners scattered over the country ?—A. Yes, and in the town as Avell. The Surgeon (ioneral: I Ijrought out that we also have doctors scattered all over the country, paid by the Govern- ment. Witness : To go back to Dr. Hodgson, he has to look after the Police Officers as well as men, the Alms House, and is sup- posed to do a little private practice because the pay is not good enough to keep a man in his position. The work of the Police and Alms House is suffi- cient to take up all the time of a medical officer. By Mr. Abraham : Q. 859. Is it not an everyday occur- rence for people to tell you that they are not properly attended to ?—Ji. They have done so very often. The other day a man told me that he would rather die in the gutter than go to the Hospital. Q. 360. Have they also told you that they have to wait a long time and some- times are not attended to ?—A. Yes ; and they ask for sixpenny tickets so that they can get attended to more quickly. Q. 36L The class of people you refer to do not care to go to the Hospital ?—A. No. I have two or three cases now where I begged them to go, and they refused, saying that tliey had Ijeen badly treated. By Mr. Garnett : Q. 362. Have you had any experience at home in connection with free hospitals ? —A. No. Mr. Garnett: There the people have the same objection to going to a free dis- pensary as apart from the ordinary hospital maintained by subscriptions. Witness: The only place I knoAv a little of is the Edinburgh Inlirmary, Avhere the poor gladly go, and where they are uncommonly well treated. . By Ml-. Wood Davis : Q. 863. You mention starvation as the chief cause of mortality : do you mean hunger ?—A. Constant hunger. Q. 364. And you say that in the Pom- eroon there is no medical system for the poor ?—A. There is no doctor. There is a dispenser, and from the mouth of the Ponieroon to Avhere he lives is betAveen 25 and 30 miles. Q. 365. Do you thiuk he is able to cope with the recjuirements of the district ?—■ A. Certainly not. Q. 866. How mnny more do you think would be re(|uired ?—A. I should say at least three dispensers of that description. Q. 867. Does a doctor go there at any time ?—A. I neA'er saAv one.