Mr. John B. Prest, the Board's inspector of dispensaries, has prepared the tables submitted below with accompanying explanations. THE DISPENSARIES OF NEW YORK STATE AND WHAT THEY ARE DOING-WHAT ATTENDANCE FIGURES SHOW. A statistical table has been carefully prepared and is the basis of this report by which it is intended to show the number of applicants for relief at the licensed dispensaries in the State, the number of times such applicants have been treated and the number of prescriptions given. One of the principal objects of this tabulation has been to present as a basis for future dispensary statistics definite figures to show what has been done in the past, so that comparison may be made from time to time when future figures are obtained. It has been intended also to indicate with the use of this table and the accompanying report what effect the dispensary law of 1899 has had upon the dispensaries. In the following summary the first subdivision represents the number of persons or individuals who have applied for treatment at the dispensaries during three years. The second subdivision is intended to show the whole number of treatments or visits and the third subdivision shows the number of prescriptions given. The figures in parentheses indicate the number of dispensaries, while the attendance is shown by the figures alongside. The words "in operation" indicate the dispensaries which were doing business in 1899 and were still doing business in 1900 and 1901. Included with these figures are reports from three new dispensaries which have been established since 1899. The words "since closed" indicate the dispensaries which reported in 1899 and 1900 but have since discontinued business. It is only fair to include these in the totals, but for comparison such figures have been kept separate. It is also fair to state that according to the printed annual report of this Department for 1899 there were fifteen other dispensaries then in operation, but from which no reports were obtained. Had these fifteen reports been made, the totals for 1899 would have been further increased in the following table. SUMMARY TABLE. Dispensaries in operation, Manhattan.. Total, Manhattan..... Dispensaries in operation, Brooklyn Dispensaries since closed, Brooklyn Dispensaries since closed, Bronx, Queens and Dispensaries since closed It will readily be seen from an examination of these figures that the grand totals for each year since 1899 have been less than they were when dispensary figures reached high-water mark in that year. It is also noticeable that the whole number of patients treated in 1900 was about 60,000 less than in 1899 and in 1901 only about 4,000 less than in 1900. The same ratio, however, is not borne out by a comparison of the number of treatments, or by the number of prescriptions. For example, the whole number of treatments at dispensaries was about 39,000 less in 1900 than during 1899, but during 1901 recovered about 24,000 of the losses shown by the 1900 figures. The number of prescriptions dropped about 25,000 in 1900 but recovered about 3,000 of the losses in the following year. In regard to both treatments and prescriptions the totals have not reached the record established in 1899, but indications point to a gradual recovery of the enormous figures recorded in that year. So much for aggregate results. The figures become more interesting when the totals in the different boroughs of New York city and those elsewhere in the State are taken up. In New York city the number of persons treated as well as the number of treatments and the number of prescriptions, have been increasing rapidly in Manhattan borough, and an increasing tendency is shown at the dispensaries located in Bronx borough. It is noticeable that the number of treatments given has increased much faster than the number of individual applicants, and this leads to the conclusion that when once a person has commenced going to a dispensary such person continues the practice rather than go to a private physician thereafter. A very marked falling off is shown by the dispensary figures representing Brooklyn, and a corresponding decrease is noted in Queens and Richmond boroughs. All of this goes to show that the movement of popu lation at dispensaries has a strong tendency toward Manhattan borough, where the large hospital and medical school dispensaries have been established in considerable numbers. Still closer comparison of the figures obtained shows that, generally speaking, the most material increase in dispensary attendance has been found at the large and magnificent dispensary institutions, such as those of Cornell University, Gouverneur Hospital, New York Eye and Ear Infirmary, Presbyterian Hospital, University and Bellevue Hospital Medical College and the Vanderbilt Clinic, all in Manhattan. To this list might be added Harlem Hospital Dispensary in Manhattan, which shows a phenomenal increase. Those dispensaries which show the most noticeable decrease in attendance are all in Brooklyn, and include the Brooklyn. Central, Brooklyn City, Brooklyn E. D. Homeopathic, Brooklyn Orthopaedic, Brooklyn College of Physicians and Surgeons, Gates Avenue Homeopathic, Brooklyn Hebrew and the Twentysixth Ward Homeopathic dispensaries. To any one familiar with conditions, and particularly to those who have studied the situation, it does not appear strange that the attendance at the dispensaries in Manhattan borough has been found increasing. One reason for this condition lies. in the acute competition for cases, regardless, when generally speaking, of the question whether the applicant is worthy of free treatment or not. The large medical schools create a tremendous demand for material for clinical instruction. This demand must be met for the success of the institution, and the question of ability to employ a physician does not enter into the problem to the extent generally supposed. On the other hand, doctors will be found in considerable numbers who will say that they want to continue to practice at dispensaries whenever they can spare the time from their private practice, because in doing so they are able to keep themselves "brushed up" and "abreast of the times" in their profession. This enlivens the competition for cases. Close observation shows that a comparatively small number of the persons who apply leave the institution without paying something. The number of so-called "free" dispensaries "which charge" is increasing. According to the figures at hand, it is apparent that the proportion of increase in Manhattan borough is not so great as the proportion of decrease in the residential boroughs of Brooklyn, Queens and Richmond. Satisfaction may be found in this condition, for such may be taken to indicate less sickness and poverty, assuming, however, that the increase in Manhattan is due to a considerable extent to the fact that persons go from all localities to the institutions in Manhattan with the belief in mind that more expert treatment is to be found at the larger institutions which exist in the business borough. In this connection the following summary, which is explained below, may be found interesting: |