Annual report of the Medical Department / Tanganyika Territory.

  • Tanganyika. Medical Department.
Date:
[1953]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Annual report of the Medical Department / Tanganyika Territory. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    11/106 (page 5)
    15. The former Overseas Food Corporation training school at Kongwa which was taken over by the Medical Department in 1953 has proved a valuable addition to the Government facilities for the training of staff. The Nurses Training School is at present confined exclusively to the training of male nurses, and will enable the annual output of male nurses to be doubled. 16. The first batch of health orderlies passed out from the Kongwa Health Training School at the end of December after a twelve months’ course of instruction followed by an examination. They are to be posted for duties under the supervision of district medical officers. 17. Increasing attention was paid during 1953 to the health of school children. District medical officers were encouraged to spend as much time as they could spare on school health work, including the medical inspection of school children, whilst a senior officer of the Department was appointed to advise on matters affecting health in schools. 18. There has been some progress in the field of vital statistics, although there is at present little sign of any widespread extension of the systematic registration of births and deaths of the indigenous population. This question was discussed at the Conference of East African Directors of Medical; Services held in Entebbe in July, and the desirability of general registration was endorsed in principle. Rules governing the registration of births and deaths were approved by the Handeni Native Authority early in 1953, whilst the Chagga Council has approved rules governing the registration of births in the area under its jurisdiction. The Native Authority of Pare District has also considered the feasibility of initiating general registration of births and deaths, and it is reported that the Authority intends t'o introduce appropriate regula¬ tions early in 1954. 19. A detailed analysis of infant deaths in a community in Nzega District, -among whom statistical records have been maintained for some years by a Roman Catholic Mission, was prepared by a medical student of Makerere College who lives in this area. The result of his investigations was published in the East African Medical Journal (No. 1, Yol. 31, 1954). The results are revealing. The registers show that in the years 1941 to 1952 the total recorded live births were 2,534. During that period, 782 infants died during their first year of life. This is equivalent to an infant mortality rate of 315 per thousand live births; the corresponding figures for the United Kingdom being a little over forty per thousand. Of 990 live births between and including the years 1941 and 1945 only 372 children—or less than 38 per cent of the total live births—lived to the age of eight years; the remainder died. It is not unreasonable to suppose that these figures are indicative of the level of infant mortality in rural areas throughout the territory. 20. The extension and improvement of hospital buildings continued steadily throughout the year. The new 100-bed hospital at Korogwe and the maternity wing at the Ocean Road Hospital, Dar es Salaam, were opened, whilst the new 75-bed hospital at Lindi is progressing rapidly and should be finished during the first half of 1954. Additional wards were built at Mirembe Mental Hospital, Dodoma, and the building of the new Nzega Hospital proceeded steadily. In addition, a large number of additions to existing hospitals were completed, including wards, kitchens, offices, laundries and sanitary annexes.