Heilbrigðisskýrslur - 01.12.1936, Qupperneq 186

Breast-fed .............
Breast- and bottle-fed
Bottle-fed only .......
184
(97,6%)
( 1,2—)
( 1,2—)
86,9%
5,9—
7,2—
14. Scinitary officials and workers. (See table I). The total number 4
of trained medical men in Iceland was 140 in 1936. There are 49
medical districts, and as a ride 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 larg'er towns,
in villages and in the country the district medical officers have a
small drug store.
15. General Insurance. Since 1911 Friendly Societies have been in
receipt of a trifling grant from the Treasury for every member insured,
but on the whole the societies have not prospered under the existing
Friendly Societies Act, and when in 1936 the National Insurance
Act came into operation, only 4,2% of the population were members
of Friendly Societies. The new National Insurance Act covers accident,
disablement and old age insurance. In all urban districts insurance
against loss of health is obligatory for persons, whose annual income
does not exceed a fixed minium, in rural districts the parish councils
may, after a general vote has heen taken, adopt compulsory in-
surance. As a result of this new insurance legislation 31,4% of the ^
population are now insured under the National Insurance Act.
16. Hospitals, large and small, have in 1936 reached the number
of 43 in the whole country, with 1140 beds, or 9,8 beds per 1000 in-
habitants, 35 of this number are general hospitals, with 641 beds, or
5,5%cc. In the tuberculosis sanatoria there are 284 beds, or about 2,4%0.
Of other special hospitals may be mentioned: 1 lunatic asylum, 1
leprosarium and 1 small epidemic hospital in Reykjavik. In the gene-
ral hosjjitals the sick-days amounted to 1,7 days j)er 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 gcneral hospitals (cf. also tables XVI—XVII).
Patients in general hospitals this year may be classified as follows
Epidemic diseases......................... 4,5%
Venereal diseases ...................... 1,7—-
Tuberculosis ........................... 10,8—
Hydatid disease ........................ 0,2—
Cancer and Malignant tumors ............ 2,7—
Births, miscarriages etc................ 11,2—
Violence ................................. 6,9—
Other diseases ......................... 62,0—
17. Vaccination is compulsory in Iceland. 4470 children were vac-
cinated for the first time, 24% with full reaction and 2768 revac-
cinated, 59% with full reaction (cf. table XVIII.)