Annual report of the Medical Department / Colony of Seychelles.

  • Seychelles. Medical Department.
Date:
[1937]
Catalogue details

Licence: Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)

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

    17/46 (page 9)
    r The above figures reveal a non too satisfactory position as they indicate that of the infective cases more are segregated at home than on leper islands. The system of home isolation for infective lepers is unsuitable for this Colony where lepers seldom consciously observe the regulations. As soon as the new settlement at Curieuse is opened, and a new leper ordinance enacted, it is hoped that the position will change and that most if not all, in time, of the infect ve cases will b • segregated onthatisla nd, either as inmates of the leper Hospital or as ordinary members of a leper colony living on a plot of land allocated to them on the island. The work at Curieuse Island is progressing satisfactorily and it is hoped that in the course of 1938 the men settlement will be opened. At Yictoiia there is a small leprosy clinic where patients undergoing home isolation come weekly for treatment. Similar clinics are held at South Mahe, Fraslin and La Digue. (c) Helminthic Diseases. Ankylostomiasis :—This disease is still responsible for most of the cases of secondary anaemia and ot chrcnic ill-health seen amongst the natives and those of the poorer classes. In some of the rural districts, especially Glacis and La Digue the incidence of infection appears to be higher than elsewhere. The provision of latrines on each premises is compulsory but the natives, especially in the rural areas, are still in the habit of polluting the soil and consequently hookworm infection or re-infection is inevitable and mass treatments repeated at frequent intervals appear to be the only practical means of keeping the disease under control. Mass treatments in 1937 were carried out at the following centres :— Centres Number of patients treated Seychelles Hospital 5,263 588 Beau Vallon Anse Etoile 842 Glacis 555 Bel Ombre 158 Port Glaud 185 Grand Anse 215 Anse Boileau 396 Baie Lazarre 1,372 Quatre Bornes 1,354 Anse Eeyale 1,209 Anse aux Pins 1,449 Cascade 836 La Misere 121 Piasliu Baie St. Anne 876 „ Grand Anse 497 La Digue 1,147 Total 17,063 A total of 17,063 treatments were administered during the year against 13,794 during 1936. The following prosecutions were entered during 1937. For having no latrines : 6 householders were prosecuted ; 5 householders were fined Es. 85. 1 householder was ordered to pay cost For unsanitary yards : 1 householder was prosecuted ar.d fined Es. 3. (2) GENEEAL MEASUEES OF SANITATION. The Victoria Town Board is the principal Authority for the enforcement of the various sanitary laws in the town of Victoria* In the country districts the local Boards of Health #re entrusted with the same duties. Sewage Disposal. Trenching of the night soil, undertaken by a private contractor and supervised by fa Sanitary Inspector trained in the Medical Department but attached to the Victoria Town Jloard is the mode of disposal used. _ The trenching ground lies on a large estate outside the centre of the town and the ifcrenches are laid out in accordance with the instructions of the Sanitary Department.