4
ANNUAL REPORT ON THE
Number Treated.
Average Daily Sick.
Average Stay in Hospital.
Years.
M a d r a s . R a n g o o n .
T h a y e t m y o .
T o n g h o o .
Total.
M a d r a s .
R a n g o o n . T h a y e t m y o .
T o n g h o o .
Total.
M a d r a s .
R a n g o o n .
T h a y e t m y o . T o n g h o o .
Total.
Civil Lock
Hospitals.
1874 ... 968 395 ... ... 1,363 104.5 33.90 ... ... 138.40 39.40 31.32 ... ... 36.32
1875 ... 857 No returns
received.
70 927 94. No returns
received.
5.75 99.75 40.03 No returns
received.
28.55 39.27
1876 ... 925 No re-
turns.
69 67 1,061 98.25No re-
turns.
3.91 4.46 106.62 38.76No re-
turns,
20.68 24.29 36.67
1877 „. 1,001 991 50 No re-
turns.
2,042 103 104 2.98No re -
turns.
209.98 37.55 38.30 21.90 ... 37.53
1878 ... 1,156 1,010 67 22 2,255 113.25 112.52 5.6 1.29 232.66 35.75 40.66 30.50 21.40 37.65
The results both in civil and military hospitals show a marked increase in the
numbers treated in 1878, over those of 1877 and preceding years. As regards
military institutions the total treated in 1878 was 602 in excess of that for 1877,
and in civil hospitals the corresponding excess amounted to 213.
5, The average daily sick shows corresponding increment ; thus in 1877 the
ratio in military hospitals was 146.50, while in 1878 it rose to 225.24. In the
civil hospitals in 1877 and in 1878 the average daily sick was, respectively, 209.98
and 232.66. The average stay in hospital in 1878—a point of some importance as
a test of the severity of the ailments coming under treatment—was again in advance
of the results for 1877 both in civil and military hospitals. It will be observed
that in each of the five years, included in the abstract table, the average stay in civil
was in excess of that in military hospitals. Whether this difference is referable
to laxer discipline in the former or to the prevalence of a more severe type of
disease, it is impossible to say.
6. In last year's report the great increase in admissions was attributed to the
prevalence of famine, as under its influence large numbers of starving women
crowded into military stations and practised prostitution to obtain food. In 1878,
although the famine pressure was less, the demoralisation which it gave rise to
continued to exist, and there is reason to fear that the prostitute class in military
stations has been permanently increased by the famine invasion, This view is
apparently borne out by actual figures, as the following statement shows that in all
the cantonments specially subject to famine influences, except Bellary, there has
been an increase in the average number of registered women in 1878, as compared
with previous years :—
Stations.
Average Number of Women on th
e Register.
1878.
1877.
1876.
Bangalore
108.78
89
76.08
Bellary ...
...
...
... ...
95.91
104.91
80.25
Madras ...
...
...
... 1129.00
809.58
746.75
St. Thomas' Mount
...
...
...
67.33
49.6
28.14
Secunderabad ...
...
...
... 253.54
150.27
120.68
Trichinopoly
...
...
... . . . 70.44
45.14
40.5
7. Admissions for Primary Syphilis into Lock Hospitals.—The following
abstract gives the ratio per thousand of cases of primary syphilis to total admissions
during each of the past five years in Military Lock Hospitals :—