Evening star., 1941-09-26
Analysis Clarifies
Hospital Bed Figures
Health Officer Discusses
Accommodations for Sick
Now Available in Washington

To the Editor Of The Star:
On Page B-1 of the noon edition of The
Star for Thursday, September 18 there
appeared an article entitled, District
Leads Nation in Hospital Facilities Per
Population" In order that the data
presented in that article should not be
misinterpreted, we are submitting here
with certain information which will ex-
plain this seeming oversupply of hospital
beds.
Actually, at the present time there
are ,568 hospital beds within the con-
fines of the District of Columbia. This
number does not include bassinets or the
670 beds for tuberculosis at Glenn Dale
Sanatorium. Assuming that the popula-
ton of the District is 100000 this would
mean approximately 181 beds per 10000
population. If the Glenn Dale beds are
included, the ratio becomes 1870 beds per
10000 population. However, the COM
position of these numbers should be ex-
planned.
There are-including Glenn Dale Sana-
torium-2,3l7 general beds in the nom
governmental hospitals in the District
There are 1855 general hospital beds in
Gallinger Municipal Hospital and 201
at Freedmen'S Hospital available to the
District residents. This represents total
of 3273 general hospital beds in the Dis
trint nf CNp1,If,op ovnllIcjva nf n aIIi-
tional pol in Freedmens Hospital those
at st. Elizabeths Hospital, United States
Naval Hospital, Veterans Administration
Hospital, and Walter Reed Hospital. The
four hospitals last named include a
total of 9,403 beds, 1886 of which are for
general hospital care. However, these
beds cannot be entirely credited to the
supply Nationwide need. The Vet
erans' Administration Hospital is limited
to the use of war veterans, and Walter
Reed and United States Naval Hospitals
are largely limited to Army and Navy
personnel respectively. 1t is apparent,
therefore, that although there is a high
ratio of hospital beds per population in
the District large percentage of these
beds. 667 per cent, is made up of those
in specialized hospitals, viz. St. Eliza
beths, United States Naval Hospital.
Veterans Administration and Walter
Reed Hospital
Based on standards of adequacy for
hospital beds determined by the Commit
tee on the Cost of Medical Care the
seemingly large oversupply of hospital
beds in the District of Columbia does
not exist. This is shown in the table
below:
On the basis of Committee on Cost of
Medical Care standards.
Type of Care: DC. Should D. c.
Have: Has
General dncluding ma
ternity. medical, surgicaD 1865 3273
tuberculosis -- - 1,035 1,671
PSychopathic Ward -- SO 209
BASED on estimated 100000 popula-
ton in District of Columbia.
The 1071 hospital beds for tuberculosis
listed for the District of Columbia in
the table above include so beds in frame
buildings at Gallinger Hospital. These
buildings should be replaced by modern
well-equipped structures inasmuch as
those now in use are old and have long
since outlived their usefulness.
1t is probable that the increased use
of disqualification since the Committee
on the Cost of Medical Care study was
published in 1888 will result in higher
standards of beds per population in all
categories This can be attributed to
widespread use of group disqualification
plans insofar as general hospital care is
concerned and to improved diagnostic
methods and more active case finding
programs insofar as tuberculosis is con-
cerned. 1t is generally accepted at the
present time that there should be avail
able two tuberculosis hospital beds per
annual death in the community. On
this basis there should be 1882 tuber-
culosis beds available to serve the Dis
trict. Actually there are 1,071 at the
present time, not all of which are for
the use of District residents.
GEORGE C. RUTLAND, MD,
Health Officer.
Editors Note: On the date of
publication of the article referred to,