ABSTRACT
Chapter 5 charts the policy, clinical and legislative innovations against tuberculosis in late-colonial Singapore with the implementation of the ten-year Medical Plan in the 1950s. The Tan Tock Seng Hospital was gradually expanded and converted into a sanatorium while treatment of the disease using a trio of antibiotic drugs became increasingly effective. Just as important were moves to better coordinate and expand the anti-tuberculosis programme: the establishment of the Tuberculosis Control Unit in 1957 to maintain a central registry of cases; the passing of legislation for mandatory notification of cases; and Singapore’s first case-finding survey for the illness. In housing, tuberculosis was also a major component in the emerging town and urban planning expertise, which drove the building work of the Singapore Improvement Trust during the decade and which began to transform Singapore into a planned public housing state.
