Medical Officer's annual report [to] Durban Corporation.

  • Durban (South Africa). Public Health Department.
Date:
[1969]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Medical Officer's annual report [to] Durban Corporation. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    64/166 (page 54)
    General Comment Although the final table reflects increased totals in all categories and community groups compared with 1968, the boost given by the increase in the Bantu figures must be borne in mind and the overall figures cannot then be viewed with complacency, especially as Bantu figures tend frequently to be inflated by attendance of sick children who should not be attending preventive and promotive clinics. However, their mere presentation requires them at least to be screened and referred if it is decided that they should not be given even simple treatment. Nonetheless all such cases receive health education to a varying degree and a check on their immunisation state is also carried out, (ii) Home Visiting On receipt of the birth notification, all mothers except those confined by private practitioners were visited as soon as possible after discharge from hospital, or after termination of the midwive’s attendance in the homes. Further home visits were made when considered necessary and covered a wide range of facets of child and family health, including feeding, nutrition and behaviour problems, physical illness or handicaps or mental ill health, family planning and immunisation defaulters, as well as routine follow-ups. Throughout all domiciliary visiting health education was constantly disseminated. To assess the type of problems encountered when home visiting and to analyse work loads, a revised system of recording these visits was commenced in March, All health visitors and other staff under their supervision submitted a daily record of the types of visit made and the number of premises visited. Concern is expressed that as clinics have had large attendances and although increased sessions were instituted to allow the health visitors more time for interviewing each mother at the clinics, they were unable due to staff shortage to spend sufficient time with the mothers in their homes. This is disturbing, as a service such as this can almost stand or fall on the domiciliary aspect of the work. A total of 287 visits were made to protected11 infants, foster children and cases of neglect at the request of the Durban Child Welfare Society. Six of these were visits to Coloured and 281 were to European children. Details of home visits conducted are as set out in (a) below and (b) on the following two pages: (a) Home Visits for January and February, 1969 Home Visits E c B A To tal First Visit Re-visit 386 1,592 370 293 2,079 846 1,412 1,173 4,247 3,904 Total j 1,978 1 663 2,925 2,585 8,151 Wasted visits during this period: 1,059