Heilbrigðisskýrslur - 01.12.1935, Page 218

Iceland, this year unusuallv high the lowest on record 43,0%o
(1929).
The care of infants may he said to be fairly good and a great
majority of the children are breast-fed. The midwives have inade out
a report (tahle XII) concerning 2540 infants born during the year
(out of 2551 births). In 2444 cases the nutrition of the infants after
birth is reported as follows (Reykjavík figures in brackets):
Breast-fed .................... 89,0% (95,5%)
Breast- and bottle-fed ...... 3,4— ( 0,9—)
Bottle-fed oniy ............... 7,0— ( 3,0—)
14. Sanitary officials and workers. (See table I). The total number
of trained medical men in Iceland was 137 in 1935. There are 49
medical districts, and as a rule they are all filled. The number of
midmives holding appointments is 204, 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.
15. Friendlij Societies or sick-elubs. Since 1911 there are legal pro-
visions concerning Friendly Societies and they receive a trifling grant
from the Treasury. Hitherto these societies have not been prosperous
and only 4,6% of the population are members of Friendly Societies.
16. Hospitals, large and small, have in 1935 reached the number
of 40 in the whole country, with 1091 beds, or 9,5 beds per 1000 in-
habitants. 32 of this number are general hospitals, with 592 beds, or
5,1%C. In the tuberculosis sanatoria there are 284 beds, or about ‘2,5%c.
Of other special hospitals may be mentioned: 1 lunatic asylum, 1
leprosarium and 1 small epidemic hospital in Reykjavik. In the g'ene-
ral hospitals the sick-days amounted to 1,7 days per head in the
whole country, while in the sanatoria the figure was 0,92 per head.
Added to this there is always a large number of tuberculosis patients
in the general hospitals (cf. also tables XVI—XVIII).
Patients in general hospitals this year may be classified as follows:
Epidemic diseases ........................ 4,9%
Venereal diseases ...................... 2,0—
Tuberculosis ........................... 12,2—
Hydatid disease ........................ 0,3—
Cancer and Malignant tumors ............ 2,8—
Births, miscarriages etc................ 9,9—
Violence ............................... 6,7—
Other diseases ......................... 61,2
16. Vaccination is compulsory in Iceland. 1199 children were vac-
cinated for the first time, only 9% with full reaction and 2984 revac-
cinated, 34% with full reaction (cf. table XIX).
Owing to epidemics vaccination was omitted in many districts or
proved abortive. In many cases this was no doubt due to a more or less
ineffective vaccine lymph.