22
Π.—The Wards.
The hospital was opened with the following arrangements :—
1 Observation ward.
1 Convalescent ward.
7 Plague wards.
1 Servants' quarters.
1 Private attendants' quarters.
1 Quarter for Medical Officer and Hospital Assistant.
1 Quarter for compounder and dispensary.
1 Store-room,
1 Wash-house.
2 Bathing platforms, one for each sex.
1 Police quarter.
Two water pipes with three taps supplied the camp with water for drinking, cooking,
washing and bathing.
There were four latrines. As our numbers increased, other huts were put up till the camp
presented the appearance given in the accompanying drawing with hut accommodation for 220
sick, excluding convalescents. The huts were lean-to in form and measured 60 X 12 giving
accommodation for 10 patients each. This was found a very convenient number to deal with
for administration purposes. The shape and size were generally adhered to throughout the
camp. The arrangement was in echelon, 60 feet separating wards in the same line from each
other and 70 feet separating line from line. The ventilation was excellent. The camp faced
north so that the sick were spared the full effulgence of the east and west sun.
The huts were built of grass walls and roof—chápper—with a lining round three sides of
bamboo matting. The fourth wall facing north in which the doors were placed was composed
of chapper only.
III.—Fire.
These materials being of the most inflammable character made it imperative to take all
possible precautions against fire. Nothing was more impressed on the attention of the whole
establishment including the military guard than the necessity of being on the alert against
fire. Every hut had a dozen matkas always full of water along the length of the back wall
and reserve barrels of water for fire purposes were dotted in profusion all over the camp. In
addition to these, a collection of stout bamboo sticks with metal hook mountings were placed
by the fire engine shed to beat down or drag away lengths of burning chapper if fire should
break out. Three night watchmen were kept all night perambulating the camp, whose special
duty it was to watch the lamps in the wards and to prevent people smoking. No greater
anxiety lay on our mind than, the protection of the sick from fire. No alarm of this kind
occurred at any time.
If I had anything to do again with a camp of this nature, I should prefer to have all the
walls of bamboo matting as less liable to sudden combustion than hay.
IV.—Equipment of Wards.
There was always a plentiful supply of ice kept in an icebox near the officer for cool
drinks and cerebral cases and rubber ice caps were also provided. There were ten country cots
in each ward. Bach cot had a rug, pillow, sheet and blanket ; under each bed there was a
chatty for discharges and each patient had a pannikin and tin dish for his food. Three small
tables—teapoys — were in each ward to hold the medicine bottles, folio of cases, surgical tray,
irrigator, &c. There was also a locked box for spare blankets and sheets in charge of the
ward boy or ward ayah. Hand punkahs against flies were also available. A large well-
protected lamp was kept in each ward and there was a supply of water-proof sheets. Those
without proper clothes of their own or on discharge were given clothes from store : females a
saree and choli, males a bundi, dhoti, cap or turban. Hot water for fomentation, &c., was
available from two 50 gallon boilers. Outside each ward were the following articles for
disinfecting the hands of the establishment:—
1 Wash-hand glazed basin on stand.
1 Quart bottle of creasotine.
1 Half barrel of water.
One tablespoonful of creasotine added to the water in the basin made an excellent soapy
disinfectant. No towels were allowed to be used, the film of disinfectant drying on the
fingers almost immediately. Towels are foul things in a plague hospital. They are liable
to be soiled by every hand. The safest plan is to do without them. Creasotine owing to
its composition—coal tar boiled with caustic potash—makes an excellent combination of
soap and disinfectant. It diffuses in water at once like phenyl. It has the advantage of
being cheaper than phenyl.
The floors of the wards were leeped—three times a week with cowdung prepared with
weak antiseptic solution.