ABSTRACT
This chapter concerns the measures which the patient himself and his doctor, the different local authorities of the community in which the patient lives, and friendly and similar societies can take in the prevention of tuberculosis. Dispensaries and sanatoria may be either municipal or voluntary in their organisation, and together they hold a high place in the list of measures against this disease. The work of the dispensary does not preclude, of course, the recommendation of suitable early cases for sanatorium treatment, and the sending of the children of tuberculous parents to seaside resorts. The preventive measures that can be taken by a medical officer of health have a wider sweep than those of the dispensary physician or of his domiciliary visitor. The out-patient departments of certain British hospitals and certain dispensaries have for many years past carried on similar work to that of the French dispensaries, apart from the home visits.
