There would appear to be justification for the belief that this standard and record has been achieved by the steady work accomplished by mass inoculation, vaccination, sanitation, and a good water supply.
Maternity Services
In view of growing public demand the Medical Department's maternity services have been extended. Private maternity homes increased from 114 to 122 during the year and this together with the maternity beds in Government and private hospitals increased the number of beds in the Colony from 880 to 940. Only trained mid- wives registered with the Midwives Board are permitted to practise, and their number has risen during the year from 861 to 903.
All private maternity homes must register with the Medical Department and they are subject to inspection by the Supervisor of Midwives.
The maternity mortality figure for the year was 1.59 which is an improvement on the 1950 figure of 1.7.
Child Health
The infant mortality rate for the year was 91.8 which was 7.8 lower than that for 1950. Facilities for treating sick children are provided at 16 clinics throughout the Colony and the number of children attending increased from 190,913 in 1950 to 195,992 in
1951.
Communicable Diseases
In 1951 there was no case of the quarantinable diseases, cholera, plague, smallpox, epidemic typhus, yellow fever, or relapsing fever.
2 cases of scrub typhus fever were notified from the Royal Army Medical Service.
The continued high morbidity in both intestinal and respiratory diseases may be ascribed to overcrowding and to unsatisfactory environment especially in squatter communities. More thorough
notification was however one of the causes of the increase in these figures which consequently do not indicate an increase of morbidity.
Pulmonary tuberculosis increased in cases (50%) and deaths (30%). These increases may again be partly due to better service and more thorough notification.
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