Annual report of the Medical Department / Colony of Singapore.

  • Singapore. Medical Department.
Date:
[1955]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

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

    20/310 (page 10)
    later than 1957. In the meantime the anti-tuberculosis work of the Government Medical Department and of the Singapore Anti-Tuberculosis Association has continued to expand. 30. Leprosy control has proceeded satisfactorily. The progress in the out-patients division has continued and the total number of non-infectious cases now under surveillance and treatment has now reached 1,289 and the contact clinic has been developed which has nearly 3,000 contacts under observation. During the year, 160 newly discovered positive cases were ad¬ mitted to the Home for treatment. This is a slight increase on 1954, but below the 1953 figure. The distribution of cases, however, shows a satisfactory shift towards early diagnosis and nearly 68 per cent of these new cases gave a history of less than one year and nearly two-thirds of these less than six months. Long standing cases show a proportionate decrease. The number of discharges of formerly positive cases was seventy-two as against eighty-four in 1954. To this figure must be added a further eight who have been detained in the Home pending settlement on farm land or for orthopaedic operations which should improve their chances of employment after their discharge. 31. The Social Hygiene Unit of the Ministry has continued its most valuable but necessarily unpublicised work in control of venereal diseases. The epidemiological control section keeps trace of all known cases of disease and of the contacts of those cases. By home visits and by postal enquiries, patients are kept under surveillance and are encouraged to report for exami¬ nation or treatment; especial effort is made to persuade known prostitutes to attend regularly, and this is proving highly successful. 32. In 1955 the cost to public funds of the Ministry’s medical and health services is estimated to have been $28,869,814 of which total $22,896,463 represents recurrent expenditure, about 11 per cent of Singapore’s total revenue in 1955. Our medical and health services are of a high standard but there still remains much to be done. I estimate that for our present population we require 4,000 more hospital beds than those available at the end of 1955. The problem of tuberculosis still has to be overcome and there are large areas of the island where environmental health services are inadequate. The School Health and Dental Services are covering only a part of the school population and out-patient facilities are lacking for many communities. The problem of providing funds for the badly needed development of medical and health services deserves the most careful consideration and study. 33. Singapore is fortunate in the contribution made by many public spirited citizens and the work of the following societies and groups is grate¬ fully acknowledged: — (ia) The Hospitals Diversional Therapy Unit. (b) The Singapore Leprosy Relief Association. (c) The Rotary Club of Singapore. (d) The Singapore Anti-Tuberculosis Association. (e) The Singapore St. John Ambulance Association and Brigade. (/) The Singapore Branch of the British Red Cross Society. (g) The St. Andrew’s Mission Hospital for Children. (h) The Singapore Association for the Blind. (0 The Singapore Association for the Deaf and Dumb.