HH62/2/LANARK/21

Transcription

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the wards should be forwarded direct to the offices at
Lanark, Uddingston, and Glasgow respectively, and there
opened by the County Sanitary Inspectors, and action
taken.
In order to keep the Medical Officer thoroughly acquainted
with the work done, daily returns are forwarded from each
ward to the office in Hamilton.
The total number of notifications received during the
year was 2,704, viz.:-
Scarlet Fever, -- 1,737 cases.
Enteric Fever, -- 520 cases.
Diphtheria, -- 177 cases.
Erysipelas, -- 230 cases.
Puerperal Fever, -- 23 cases.
Continued Fever, -- 17 cases.
Since the Act came into force throughout the whole
county on 1st September, the weekly average of cases
notified has been 78.

Returns of Births and Deaths. - My experience of
public health having hitherto been confined to England,
where, under the Registration Act of 1875, provision is
made for the periodical receipt of returns of the births and
deaths from the local Registrars, I was greatly astonished
to find that apparently the furnishing of these returns to
Medical Officers in Scotland had never been contemplated.
I must confess that to me it almost seems ludicrous to
attempt to carry on the health work of a great county
without knowing from time to time the number of deaths,
where they occur, from what disease, and at what ages, and
it is most vexatious to find that this public information
can be given or withheld at the caprice of any of the
numerous Registrars in the county. I am pleased to say
that the great majority of the Registrars have most cordially
responded to the request for monthly returns on the same
terms as fixed by statute in England. In a few instances,
however, great difficulty has been experienced in coming to

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an agreement, and the whole work of arranging about these
returns has been accompanied by an amount of worry and
a waste of time, which has been almost disheartening. It is
to be hoped that a short Act of Parliament will be introduced
at the earliest possible moment, settling this question on a
definite and equable basis. Seeing that the whole work of
the Sanitary Authority in the county must be judged by its
results "in practical relation to the Public Health," and that
"each Sanitary Authority has for its purpose under the law
to lessen to the utmost it can the incidence of disease
within its district," it needs no argument to prove the
necessity of full and exact information being given to the
officers of the Sanitary Authority regarding the whole of
the deaths within their district.

Parochial Medical Officers and Sanitary Inspectors. -
Another question of importance which had to be decided
was whether the services of the local Medical Officers and
Sanitary Inspectors were to be retained or dispensed with.
After full consideration of the whole subject it was agreed
to dispense with their services in time to enable them to
claim compensation for loss of office. I would have pre-
ferred to have had their assistance and advice for a longer
period, but the time prescribed by the Act for dealing with
the question compelled the Council to take the necessary
steps before the end of August.
At the present time, therefore, I am discharging, without
medical assistance, the whole of the duties pertaining to
the Medical Officer of Health throughout the landward
portion of the county.

Bye-laws regulating the Duties of the County
Medical Officer and of the County Sanitary Inspectors. -
The next question, and one of special importance, was
the framing of bye-laws regulating the duties of the County
Medical Officer and of the County Sanitary Inspectors, and
their relative position towards each other. Being entirely