NOTE
ON THE
LUNATIC ASYLUMS IN BURMA
FOR THE YEAR 1919.
Building, Accommodation and Population.—During the year under review,
the Committee appointed by Government to examine proposals for a new Lunatic
Asylum at Rangoon submitted its report recommending the construction of a
new Lunatic Asylum with accommodation for 1,008 inmates at a cost of Rs. 28
lakhs against the previous estimate of Rs. 35 lakhs, and Government have decided
that the construction of the female section of this new Lunatic Asylum should be
taken in hand at once. Consequently administrative sanction was given for con-
struction of accommodation for 170 females with subsidiary building, for staff, etc.,
at a cost of Rs. 6 lakhs. These buildings are now in course of construction and
will, it is hoped, be completed this year. In Rangoon the new European Ward
with accommodation for two patients was completed, but is not yet equipped.
It lacks ventilation, for with the exception of doors and windows, no means of
changing the air has been provided. Two new wards have been provided—one
in the Criminal and one in the Hospital enclosure. They are identical in size and
shape—the lower floor is intended for day use, the upper for night use, each half
accommodating thirty patients. The same defect exists in the lower wards as
pointed out in the case of the new European Ward. In the upper ward a slight
concession has been made in the shape of two small ventilators in the ceiling
which are quite inadequate for the purpose. Over-crowding still exists—especially
in the Criminal section— the accommodation being 640, the average population
706. It is difficult to say what is the average space allotted to each inmate in the
various wards and enclosures, but the Criminal section gives one distinct impres-
sion of a packed mass of humanity. The additional cells required for the female
section, in view of its early removal to Kokine, have not been provided nor is it
advisable to do so.
Statement I.
2. The total accommodation provided in the two asylums of the province is
776 as against 716 in the year previous, allowing room for 664 males and 112
females only. The maximum population on any one night was however 856
against 857 in the previous year. On the 31st December 1919, the total popula-
tion of the two asylums stood at 840 as against 810 in the previous year, and the
daily average strength also increased from 816.28 in 1918 to 828.12 during the
year under review.
Statements
I, II & III.
3. Admissions and Discharges.—Two hundred and thirty-two lunatics includ-
ing 20 cases of re-admission were admitted during the year as against 246 in the
year previous. The daily average strength of Criminal lunatics rose from 349.80
in 1918 to 361.32 in 1919 and the number of discharges and deaths among them
was 52 against 51 of the previous year. Criminals convicted of trivial offences or
non-dangerous lunatics who had improved, were handed over to their relatives as
occasion arose. Sixty-three lunatics were discharged as cured in 1919 as against
86 in 1918. This decrease has been due to the transfer to India at the request
of their relatives of lunatics who had benefited by their stay in the asylum, but
who could not be described as "cured." The proportion of male to female
lunatics is 7 to 1. This does not represent the actual state of insanity in the
province. For though lunacy is more frequent among males, the excess does
not reach anything like the ratio found in the asylums. Addiction to drugs is
much more common among males and is an important factor, but probably the
chief reason is that males generally give more trouble to their friends and neigh-
bours and wear out their patience, while the quieter female is allowed to remain in
the community.
4. Water-supply.—The water-supply of Rangoon is from the Municipal pipe
system supplemented by wells in the asylum. The pumps working in these wells
are constantly getting out of order and much anxiety is felt because the garden,
the dhoby and the staff have to get their water supply from these wells. The
Minbu Asylum continues to derive its water-supply from the Municipal water-
works and is sufficient for all purposes.
Statement I.
5. Sickness and Mortality.—The percentage of mortality to average daily
strength was 9.66 against 7.84 of the year previous. In Rangoon, a consider-
able number of new admissions were in a very poor state of health. There were
80 deaths during the year, 76 in Rangoon and 4 in Minbu. The mortality in the
female ward of the Rangoon Lunatic Asylum was exceptionally high, the figures
being 18 against 7 of the previous year. The chief cause of death was tubercu-
losis, which furnishes about one-third of the total deaths and reached a higher
figure than any recorded in recent years, being double the average for the