Annual report of the Medical Department / Colony of the Gambia.

  • Gambia. Medical Department.
Date:
[1921]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Annual report of the Medical Department / Colony of the Gambia. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    (/>) Financial. MEDICAL DEPARTMENT. Estimated. Actual. £ £ s. d. Total Revenue ... 300 436 9 1 Total Expenditure 16,851 15,003 3 3 PUBLIC HEALTH DEPARTMENT. Estimated. Actual. £ £ d. Total Revenue ... 920 942 12 6 Total Expenditure 9,978 8,925 10 9 IT. PUBLIC HEALTH. (a) General Remarks. The general health of the Public continued much as in previous years. 2. An epidemic of small-pox occurred in Bathurst in March, and the disease lingered on amongst a well vaccinated population until the end of the year. There were many cases of a mild type, and it is suspected that some of these did not come under observation at all. Thirty-five people were attacked by the disease, of whom six died. (/>) European Officials. Their health was, on the whole, very good. Malaria is prevalent during the rainy season, and is practically absent during the dry weather, for not only are mosquitoes few in number then, but the cool sea breezes act as a stimulant to enable the body to combat an infection acquired during the four bad months of the year. TABLE SHOWING THE SICK, INVALIDING, AND DEATH RATES OF EUROPEAN OFFICIALS. 1919. 1920. 1921. Total number of officials resident 49 55 75 Average number resident 27 32-8 38 Total number on sick list 35 52 50 Total number of days on sick list 223 379 281 Average daily number on sick list 0-61 1-03 0-77 Percentage of sick to average number resident 129-17 158-5 131-5 Average number of days on sick list for each patient 6-37 7-28 5-62 Average sick time to each resident 8-25 11-5 7-0 Total number invalided 2 5 3 Percentage of invalidings to total residents ... 4-08 9-9 4 Total deaths _ 1 _ Percentage of deaths to total residents _ 1-8 _ Percentage of deaths to average number resident ... _ 3-04 — Number of cases of sickness contracted away from residence ... — — — The causes of the three invalidings were—(1) Appendicitis ; (2) Blackwater fever; (3) Dysentery.