Heilbrigðisskýrslur - 01.12.1934, Page 151

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11. Maternity (see tables XI—XII). The total number of births
in 1934 was: 2597 born alive and 56 stillborn, or 21,1%0 of the total
number.
Deaths from accidents of childbirth and puerperal sepsis during
the preceding years have been as follows:
1925 1926 1927 1928 1929 1930 1931 1932 1933 1931
Accidents of Childbirth .......... 4 4 8 7 10 4 6 7 4 6
Puerperal Sepsis ................. 6 1 3 3 1 5 3 1 3 2
Total Number of Deaths .......... 10 5 11 10 11 9 9 8 7 8
The death rate 1934 is 3,1 per 1000 children born alive. The distri-
bution of accidents of childbirth is as follows: Puerperal hæmorrhage
4, abortion 2.
12. Care of infants. Infant mortality is on the whole very low in
Iceland, this vear 52,9/óc (the lowest on record 43,0%c (1929)).
The care of infants may be said to be fairly good and a great
majority of the children are breast-fed. The midwives have made out
a report (table XI) concerning 2488 infants born during the year
(out of 2597 births). In 2375 cases the nutrition of the infants after
birth is reported as follows (Reykjavik figures in brackets):
Breast-fed ..................... 85,1% (95,2%)
Breast- and bottle-fed ......... 5,2— ( 2,5—)
Bottle-fed only ................ 9,7— ( 2,3—)
13. Sanitary officials and workers. (See table I). The total number
of trained medical men in Iceland was 138 in 1934. There are 49
medical districts, and as a rule they are all filled. The number of
midwives holding appointments is 205, while the number of districts
is 207. Trained nurses do little service outside hospitals. Dentists are
very few. Trained dispensing chemists are only in the larger towns,
in villages and in the country the district medical officers have a
small drug store.
14. Friendly Societies or sick-clubs. Since 1911 there are legal pro-
visions concerning Friendly Societies and they receive a trifling grant
from the Treasury. Hitherto this societies have not been prosperous
and only 4,2% of the population are members of Friendly Societies.
15. Hospitals, large and small, have in 1934 reached the number
of 37 in the whole country, with 1034 beds, or 9 beds per 1000 in-
habitants. 30 of this number are general hospitals, with 563 beds, or
4,9%0. In the tuberculosis sanatoria there are 281 beds, or about 2,5%c.
Of other special hospitals may be rnentioned: 1 lunatic asylum, 1
leprosarium and 1 small epidemic hospital in Reykjavik. In the general
hospital the sick-days amounted to 1,7 days per head in the whole
country, while in the sanatoria the figure was 0,91 per head. Added
to this there is always a large number of tuberculosis patients in the
general hospitals (cf. also tables XV—XVI).