MOBILE X-RAY UNIT

Press, Volume XCI, Issue 27637, 19 April 1955, Page 12

MOBILE X-RAY UNIT

PLANT EXPECTED TOMORROW

MEDICAL OFFICER’S COMMENTS

“This practically completes the facilities required by the district office of the Health Department in its campaign to eradicate tuberculosis,” said the Medical Officer of Health (Dr. D. P. Kennedy) in announcing yesterday that the mobile mass miniature X-ray unit for use in Canterbury and the West Coast would be shipped from Wellington by the Wairata today. The Wairata is expected at Lyttelton tomorrow.

The unit will be the first to be operated by the department in New Zealand. One other similar unit has been in use in Taranaki for some time, for work among Maoris. Several more units will eventually be used in various parts of New Zealand. “The position now is that we have a mass miniature unit in Manchester street serving the metropolitan area of Christchurch,” Dr. Kennedy said. “Very good use of this unit is being made by industry, shops and offices, schoolteachers, and the public generally. People are coming not only in organised groups—they are free to walk in off the street.

“The mobile unit being shipped from Wellington will deal with the rural parts of the district, from as far north as Kaikoura, and from Seddonville right down the West Coast to Ross,” Dr. Kennedy said. “In conjunction with these X-ray facilities, there is the ECG programme directed particularly at secondary school children. The public health tuberculosis organisation will be rounded off when the tuberculosis medical officer appointed to the district staff arrives from the United Kingdom. It will be his responsibility to supervise the entire public health tuberculosis programme, including the work of public health nurses, the ECG vaccination team, and the two mass miniature radiographic units. “The new mobile unit is housed in what is essentially a large bus-type vehicle.” said Dr. Kennedy. “It is about 30 feet long, and about lift 6in high. It contains a mass miniature X-ray unit very similar to the one in Manchester street, changing facilities, and a dark room.”

Dr. Kennedy said a feature of the mobile unit was its power-driven generator. The unit could be operated from a power supply, but where one was not available, it could still be used because it created its own power. Dr. Kennedy explained that although with miniature X-ray units it was not necessary for those being examined to undress, when recalls were necessary, and the unit was converted to take the full-size plates, changing rooms had to be provided.