PHTHISIS IN THE ARMY.

Marlborough Express, Volume XLII, Issue 99, 28 April 1908, Page 6

PHTHISIS IN THE ARMY.

BEDS FOR SICK SOLDIERS

The War Office Committee appointed to consider the treatment of soldiers invalided for tuberculosis have drawn up a preliminary report outlining the scheme they propose. Should the scheme and the financial liabilities it ihvolves be accepted in principle by the Army Council, they will proceed to elaborate it in detail.

In the opinion of the committee there are three practicable methods of dealing with the problem. They are:—

1. To continue the present method, viz., to discharge at once from the Army any man who is diagnosed as suffering from tubercle of the lung, to discharge, him from the hospital as soon as he is fit to travel, and afterwards to disown all responsibility for him.

2. To. provide a special central military sanatorium for tuberculous patients, to which all soldiers suffering from the disease should be sent for treatment.

3. To make use of existing civil sanatoria in all parts of the country by reserving in each a number of beds at the expense of Army funds, and by transferring soldiers who are sus-pected-of having the disease to the available institution nearest to their own homes.

The last method is the one recommended by the commitee, after considering the possibility of providing a central military sanatorium. The latter experiment has been tried in America, where it has not been a success; and there are difficulties in the way of initial cost of buildings, j Provision of a staff of specialists, 'fv Cc acina] transport of invalids that have decided the committee to reject it.

The danger involved to the civil papulation is the main consideration which has reduced the recommendation that the State should admit the responsibility for soldiers suffering from tubercle of the lung, it being pointed out that a man may, under the present cicumstances, return to nis home where the conditions of cramped space are often specially sm S a°le *° the spread of the disease, andbecome a menace to the public. . l /i l®, m6' thod proposed, therefore, is that the civil sanatorium be asked to reserve a certain number of beds for the sole use of the Army. It is hoped tnat in this way a sufficient number of beds will be obtained to give treatment from three to six months' duration to all soldiers who require it. As soon as a soldier was even suspected ofr tubercle he would be removed from the military hospital to the nearest sanatorium to his home at which a bed was available. The invalid would be at once discharged from the Army and would not be allowed to re-enlist even if a comparative cure were effected. On leaving the sanatorium the soldier would return home. It is thought that the average cost 7 ai mtaining a bed ™>uld be 30s a week. The average number of soldiers invalided annually for tubercle of the lung^ is about 400. The number requiring treatment, assuming that some are advanced cases and that others refuse to remain in sanatoria after discharge, would probably not exceed 350. Each bed would accomodate at least two patients annually but some margin would have to be left m order to ensure that a bed may always be available when required lhus about 200 beds would require to be maintained; the cost of these at dlte a week would be £15,600 per annum. The total cost will not, it is estimated, be more than 20,000 a year and on the understanding that such sum is not exceeded the committee ask to be authorised to proceed with the elaboration of the scheme.