Page 155 - Bahrain Gov Annual Reports (III)_Neat

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BAHRAIN GOVERNMENT PUBLIC HEALTH REPORT, 1363-1944.

By Du. R. H. B. Snow, s.m.o.
At no time in our history has the predominating machine so outrun the pressing problems of
mind and spirit. Technology has outpaced sociology, and the medical world has not escaped unsca-
thed. For cold science has made a more exact approach to diagnosis to the detriment of humanism,
and its tendency to dominate is beginning to undermine human understanding and sympathy. Social
and economic adjustments must go hand in hand with an advancing civilisation, and in medicine the
philosophy of a scientific humanism developed.
The study of man is not complete without the knowledge of his childhood, upbringing, social,
domestic and industrial life. Too late it is realised that the core of a malady sprang from a malad­
justment of one or other of these factors. Mind too controls the body, and distorts its functions in
mysterious ways. To understand this, the environment where illness had its beginnings must be
sought out, and its influence appreciated. A careful history of a patient’s problem will reveal much
and sometimes all, before any physical examination need be proceeded with.
In the study of disease in this island, one is struck at once by the great proportion of what is
preventable and would almost be non-existent in an enlightened country. To overcome this, mea­
sures to secure better standards of nutrition, better housing, and better education, and to reduce
overcrowding, bad sanitation, industrial fatigue and hazards, and economic insecurity, are all needed.
The inertia of the Easterner is too readily blamed on the climate without an appreciation of
its environmental diseases. For example, Malaria and Dysentery have sapped for centuries a people’s
vitality. In Bahrain, there is an urgent need for a correlation of clinical, social and environmental
studies to be brought about, and the day is now at hand when its mainspring should be a committee
comprising, doctors, nutrition experts, sanitary inspectors, research and social workers, works mana­
gers, public health and local authorities, all in close collaboration over this. The hospital should
then be able to point out with pride its declining numbers, and to an increase of eradication of
diseases, at the source.
This year has been one of exceptional health in some respects, helped by a not too hot summer,
and freedom from epidemics. The incidence of dysentery has been halved, and Malaria reduced to
the lowest recorded level. It is hoped this standard will be kept. The schools have more and more
been exemplifying the care of the body, and the Services’ camps have not been without their influence
in promoting hygiene. Inoculations and vaccinations are now sought for, and people often request
anti-malarial gangs to improve their districts.
The seed has been sown, and an opportunity is now here to correlate in a many patterned
design, all branches relating to health which will raise the general level of human fitness. The poten­
tialities are great, and only an understanding social medical outlook will bring this about.

BAHRAIN GOVERNMENT HOSPITAL.
Male Statistics 1363.
Out-Patients.
New Cases. Return Total.
Cases.
73.640 84.209
Hospital 10,569
5.26o}
Muharraq 15.905 22,129 38.034 127.503
Dispensaries 4.526 734
In-Patients.
Government Hospital .. 1,298
Isolation Hospital 432 } 2.140
European Services 410