Influence of industrialization on an African urban community

There is a steady trend towards urbanization in all countries, especially in developing countries. This leads to concentration of medical care, adding to road traffic congestion. In one hospital in South Africa the number of patients X-rayed increased significantly, from 80,402 in 1977 to 96,251 in 1980. 62% of all the patients were from casualty or outpatient clinics. Only 20% of the ambulatory patients were admitted. About 50% of all patients X-rayed were, therefore, not hospitalized. Most of them required relatively simple X-ray examinations, whereas inpatients needed more complex procedures. Building bigger hospitals and X-ray departments may not be the correct solution. Decentralized and cheaper facilities may be better and would also decrease the load on the larger and more complex X-ray departments.