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47
especially guarded against;
bedding was to be well aired and shaken;
floors to be dry-rubb ed every day with a scrubbing brush mounted on a heavy
block, the washing of floors when patients were in the room to be avoided
except when absolutely necessary;
the wards themselves were to be fumig ated
and the plastered walls white washed, the wooden sections scoured with soap
and water. There were also regulations to provide for further cleanliness ,
for quietness and for light in the wards .
In addition, the Medical Officer
\vas called upon to carry out many small duties :
giving permission in
,.,riting for a patient to go beyond the hospital boundaries , and for visitors
to see patients ; allotting duties to patients to help in making beds ,
cl eaning and assisting sick friends ;
seeing that the hospital stores and
instruments were kept in good order and bedding frequently aired and kept
dry. He \oJas also to supervise the compiling of diet lists; wine, spirits
or malt liquor were to be administered only under his supervision.
Each
hospital was supplied with one or more medicine chests and the Medical
Officer was expected to confine his treatments to the medicines there
provided.
In addition , he was expected to care for the fami lies and
servants of officers of the Convict Department. Those doctors , like Hal l,
who were also in charge of probation parties and prisoners ' barracks were
to inspect all the men, not only the sick, once weekly for signs of "itch" ,
venereal complaints , ocular diseases, ulcers and any facila or skin
ailments .
If any disease was common, these inspections were to be made
daily. Prisoners • huts or barracks were also to be frequently examined
to preserve cleanliness and venti lation, and improvemen ts suggested to the
Superintendent of the station .
All prisoners before removal from one
station to another were to be inspected for signs of disease and their
case reported to the Principal Medical Officer.
Undoubtedly the duties of
a Medical Officer wexe multifarious , as
all have not been listed here.
Considering that one probation camp sometimes held up to four hundred men ,
it was possible that some of these duties were not very efficiently carried
out , especially as there were private patients to be treated too , if a
doctor were to earn a decent living . In many of the country districts ,
he was the only medical man available to attend to everything and everybody
from the Assistant Police Magistrate's wife to the meanest convict .
At
times , Medical Officers were put in charge of two prob ation stations , at
one of which he lived, the other he visited twice weekly.
Personal lives
of the doctors were also restricted as they were unable to sleep away frow
their stations without first seeking the approval of the Principal Medical