Heilbrigðisskýrslur - 01.12.1958, Blaðsíða 195

193 —
1958
13. Artificial Abortion (cf. table
XII).
During the year 51 artifical abor-
tions took place under the Birth Con-
trol Act, which came into operation
in 1935. In 12 out of these 51 cases
social as well as medical indications
had been taken into consideration.
14. Accidents. The figure of deaths
by accidents (including suicide) is
0.52 per 1000 of the whole popula-
tion.
1954 1955 1956 1957 1958
Deaths by Suicide 19 23 20 14 9
Deaths by
other Violence 70 08 01 05 77
The distribution of deaths by acci-
dents is shown on pp. 66—68.
15. Care of Infants may be said to
be fairly good, the great majority of
the children being breast-fed, at least
for the first weeks. The midwives
have made out a report (table XIII)
concerning 4636 infants born during
the year. Reports on tlie nutrition of
infants were submitted in 4498 cases
which accordingly were grouped as
follows (Reykjavík figures in brac-
kets):
Breast-fed ....... 88.9 p.c. (98.2 p.c.)
Breast-
and bottle-fed 7.7 — ( 0.4 — )
Bottle-fed only . 3.4 — (1.4 — )
16. fíealth Officiats and Auxiliari/
Þersonnel (cf. table I). The total num-
ber of licensed medical men in Iceland
was 269 in 1958. There are 57 medical
districts. The number of midwives
holding appointments is 137 while
the number of districts is about 200.
Trained nurses do little service out-
side hospitals and institutions. Den-
tists are few (50 in the whole coun-
try). Trained dispensing chemists are
only in the larger towns, in villages
and in the country the district medi-
cal officers have a small drug store.
17. General Insurance. The National
Insurance Act of 1936 (amended
several times) covers besides disea-
ses: accident, disablement and old
age insurance, sickness insurance
being obligatory for the wliole coun-
try since 1 October 1951.
At the end of the year 101050 per-
sons were registered insured under
the National Insurance Act, organi-
zed in 224 sickness-benefit societies,
children under 16 years being insured
with their parents or foster-parents.
18. Food and Nutrition. Public in-
spection of food lias taken place in
tliis country since 1936, when the
Food Adulteration Act came into
force. This Act provides for com-
prehensive control of all articles of
food and other nutrients. This in-
spection is in the hands of the di-
strict medical officers of health and the
sanitary committees, in co-operation
with the local police authorities. The
chemical analysis work is done at the
public Chemical Analysis Institute in
Reykjavík.
19. Hospitals, largc and small, in
1956 numbered 41 in the whole coun-
try, with 1754 beds, or 10.3 beds per
1000 inhabitants, 36 of this numer
being general hospitals, with 1184 beds
(7.0 per 1000). In the tuberculosis
sanatoria there are 271 beds (about
1.6 per 1000). Of other special ho-
spitals may be mentioned: 2 lunatic
asylums and 1 leprosarium. The ho-
spitalization days in all hospitals
amounted to 3.4 per head for the
whole population: in the general ho-
spitals the figure was 2.4 and in the
sanatoria 0.31 (cf. also tables XVII—
XVIII).
Patients in general hospitals this
year may be classified as follows:
Epidemic Diseases ........... 3.02 p.c.
Venereal Diseases ........... 0.03 —
Tuberculosis............. 0.83 —
Hydatid Disease ............. 0.06 —
Cancer—Malignant Growths 4.08 —
Births, Miscarriages etc. .. 11.16 —
Violence................. 7.50 —
Other Diseases ............. 73.32 —
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