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■2-20
III. CONSTITUTION AND ADMINISTRATION.
least 7 years, the preparatory practice during an apprenticeship at a
pharmacy included.
No country shows a lower death-rate or a greater average length of human
life than Sweden. The reason of this must be sought, not only in such
circumstances as the isolated position of the country, its climate, the
enlightenment of its people, their way of life, their distribution over the
country, etc., but also in the high standard which the Care of Public
Health has attained in Sweden.
The public health of the entire kingdom is supervised by the Royal
Medical Board; that of every län, by its governing body. It is supervised
in the towns, market towns, municipal communities and those which have
sprung up round railway junctions, by special authorities, the Boards of
Health; in the country by the general executive authorities of the
communes, the Communal Boards — in both cases with the assistance of their
respective medical officers.
The above-mentioned Boards are bound by law to see that there is within
the parish a plentiful and accessible supply of good water for drinking and
cooking purposes; that springs, wells, and other places from which water is taken
is not polluted; that risk of pollution in or near dwelling houses is removed;
that manufactories and trades be not established, arranged, or carried on in a
manner likely to prove detrimental to the health of the workmen or the
neighbours, etc. The obligations of these authorities are expressed in the "statute of
public health", promulgated in 1874. It contains express directions, distinct for town
and country. Those for the towns are appreciably more strict and have a tendency
to become still more severe; with their support the municipal authorities in
many towns have issued special injunctions and regulations touching trading in
eatables, principally meat, milk, and the like; the control of this is supervised
by common police inspection, or a specially appointed police of health. Moreover,
in some towns the inspection of dwellings has been organized, with the object
of seeing that they are used in accordance with the requirements of health, and
of inspecting newly erected dwelling-houses. — In the very near future, all
dealing in the necessaries of life is certain to be subjected to legal control.
In case of epidemics or infectious diseases, the Board can call upon the
responsible official physician, according to a regulation called the Statute of
Epidemics, which was promulgated in 1875, to visit the spot and prescribe proper
measures; or the Board reports on the outbreak of an infectious disease to the
Governor of the Län, who issues orders to the medical officers. In times of
epidemics, the Board has a right to forbid large gatherings, such as at fairs and
so on, and to inhibit, for long or short periods, attendance at school, etc.
Every doctor is bound to inform the responsible authorities of any cases of
the following infectious diseases occurring in his practice, viz. cholera, smallpox,
typhus, typhoid, scarlet fever, diphtheria, dysentry, leprosy, and infantile paralysis.
Every commune is bound to have a cottage hospital or some such place for
isolating infectious cases. Hospitals or cottage hospitals for epidemic diseases
have been built in most towns, and many are to be found in country districts.
Every person suffering from any of the above-mentioned infectious diseases is
bound, on the decision of the authorities, to submit to be treated at an epidemic
hospital. If an epidemic case be treated in the patient’s home, it devolves on
the authorities to take measures for disinfection, to prevent the spread of the
disease. At hospitals which have disinfecting ovens all measures of disinfection
deemed necessary are taken.
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