PUBLIC HEALTH

Dominion, Volume 9, Issue 2584, 5 October 1915, Page 4

PUBLIC HEALTH

A SATISFACTORY REPORT

,Tlu> report' of the Inspector-General Hospitals (Dr. Valintine), on the public health for the year ended' March. 31, was presented to Parliament yestcrday. - It shows that the general uealth of tho Dominion has been good. .Ihe general death-rate is 9.31. as against 9.47 last year. The infantile mortality rate for New Zealand waa 51.38 deaths per 1000 births, an increase upon that of the two previous 3ears. Ihe interest of tho hospital boards and public regarding the care , of sufferers from tubercular diseases, especially phthisisj and the precaution<ii3' measures against the spreading of such diseases augur well for a still more successful outcome being demonstrable m the future for tho campaign that has been so well ■ initiated generally throughout the .Dominion. ■ « ' ' From the returns attached 'to the several"reports.of the .'health olncers it is seen that the amount of U 1 * n the administration of the regulations under the Sale of \°° i- Act increased substantiaUy. during 1914. Finos inflicted amounted-to £497, as against £412 during 1913. While on the one hand it was .obvious to the officers administering this Act that they should avoid insisting- upon miuor technicalities—of •labelling, for example—the cost of whioh would inevitably be placed upon the consumer, nevertheless, they had been lest gross adulterations or short -weight ho taken advantage of - by. less scrupulous - vendors in these times of national stress. ■The total expenditure of hospital and charitablo aid boards, separate instiGovernment institutions, and grants in aid amounted to £548,868 as compared -with £549,830 for tho previous year. i Dr. Valintirio concludcs -his report with several items of general interest, ; including tho following:— Hospital and charitable aid expenditure :h a s increased in .the: ten years ended March 31, 1914, from 6s. Id per head'of population to 10s. 9Jd. ' For the year ended March 31, 1915, it , was I(Js - 6jd. per head; 1n'1914-15 28 6 per 1000 of tie population availed them--Ifi eS ;n° itreatment, as against 18.5 m 1900-6. The average number ? JS? , be<ls per diem rose from 1354 ; to 2364, or from 1.54 to 2.16 per 1000 of the population. ~ The. resulting capital - expenditure . necessitated- thereby has provided 3531 beds, as against 2186, or 3.22 per 1000 of the population- as against 2;49 in 1905-6. Capital expendiiSm'2 u n E 1 e 1 n , ei ll h . ospitals was £20,379 in * fmY! - ,35 T a n 19 . 1 ?' 14 " an d £80,485 in 1914-10. _In addition to the necessity for providing additional wards, many' of the old wooden hospitals have had to be rebuilt. i. ■ • The cost per occupied bed in the general hospitals during the last W years has been:— , 1910-11 96 19 *0' 1911-12 106 6 0 ; 1912-13 100 6 0 1913-14 ]05 2 0 > 1914-15 ; 106 4 0 Patients' payments have averaged; per occupied bed■ ' ' " £ s. ■d. ' 1910-11 20 17 8 1911-12 V. 2112 0 1912-13 22 8 0 . V 1913-14 23 10 0' 1914-15 ............... 25 12 0 Tho District, Health Officer, Auckland, states that again it is satisfactory to report absence of plague in x man or rodents. Examination of rats has been conduoted regularly, 10,659 having been examined, of-which 4752 have been submitted to. bacteriological examination, and found to be free from bacillus pestis. • The District Health Officer, 'reports no cases of dangerous infectious 1 diseases in his district.