Heilbrigðisskýrslur - 01.12.1938, Page 175

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the population. About 47% of the beds are owned by the State itself,
30% belong to municipalities and the remainder, about 23%, is
privately owned or belongs to independent institutions, the greater
part of which belongs to foreign Roman Catholie orders or nuns
(especially the St. Joseph’s sisters).
General Hospitals.
About 57% of the total number of beds available belong to general
hospitals, which number about 40. The figure is, indeed, merely
nominal as about one lialf of these hospitals are only small cottages
wfth 2 to 5 beds each, attached to the physician’s residences in isolated
niedical districts. These beds are first and foremost intended for use
when the patients cannot be taken to the larger hospitals. There are
only 9 general hospitals with over 20 beds each in the whole of the
country.
The largest of all the general hospitals is the State Hospital in
Reykjavík. It is not really intended for more than 100 patients, but
as a rule 140—150 patients lie there. The hospital is in three main
departments each with its own head medical officer: the department
of internal medicine, the department of surgery, and the Roentgen
department. The heads of the internal medicine and surgical depart-
ihents are at the same time professors of medicine and surgery re-
spectively in the University of Iceland. The Roentgen department
especially is so well equipped with all modern appliances that it has
drawn the attention of foreign medical visitors to the hospital. It
really does more than serve the requirements of the hospital, and is
thei-efore frequently visited by out-patients. All the larger hospitals
and even some of the smaller ones are fitted with Roentgen equip-
ment, and their number is rapidly increasing. Besides the three heads
of departments there are four assistant doctors and three internes.
In addition to the three main departments there are two others
in the State Hospital, viz., a maternity department and a skin
and venereal diseases department, the former under the charge of
the head surgeon and the latter under that of the head physician
who is advised and assisted by a specialist in skin and venereal
diseases. In connection with the Stale Hospital there is a large and
Well equipped research laboratory for research work in pathology
and bacteriology. The principal of this laboratory is the professor
of pathology and bacteriology in the medical faculty of the University.
On the whole the State Hospital may be said to be equipped accord-
ing to the demands of modern times, at least in so far as it is possible
in a hospital of this size. But it is full to overcrowding and increased
accomodation is urgently needed. The building may indeed be said to
he still in tlie course of construction for although it was taken into
use in 1930 only the beginning of the original plan has as yet been
completed.
The second largest hospital in the country is that of the nuns of the
St. Joseph’s order in Reykjavík. This hospital contains 100 beds.
Most of the larger towns own fairly good little hospitals with 40 to