REPORT ON THE LUNATIC ASYLUMS OF BURMA FOR THE TRIENNIUM 1918-20.
7
The work of the remainder of the staff is reported to be satisfactory. The
Superintendent brings especially to notice the zeal and energy of the Matron and
Nurses both in the discharge of their regular duties and in voluntary night work
with bad cases.
Work in all branches of the Asylum has increased greatly during the past
triennium, by reason both of increase in the number of inmates, and in the
amount of individual attention given to each case.
Proposals for increase of the pay of the Staff on account of high cost of
living have been submitted, and an increase in the allowance for Sub-Assistant
Surgeons, equivalent to that recently granted to those employed in Jails has been
given. Service in the Asylum is, generally speaking, intensely disliked by Sub-
Assistant Surgeons, who rarely wish to take up mental work. One female Sub-
Assistant Surgeon has been attached to the Female Section since November 1919
with beneficial results.
Dr. J. Bannerjee was in charge of the Minbu Asylum from the 1st January to
the 16th September 1920 and Dr. C. S. Krishnasawmi Iyer for the remainder
of the year.
The latter's previous experience in Rangoon has benefited the Minbu Asylum
in several particulars. Sub-Assistant Surgeon Rustum Beg who acted as Deputy
Superintendent has been very favourably reported on by his superior officer.
22. Committees.—The Committee of Visitors (official and non-official held
monthly meetings throughout the year in Rangoon and carried out the duties re-
quired under sections 31 and 33, Indian Lunacy Act, and sections 473 and 474(1)
of the Code of Criminal Procedure. The average attendance was seven. There
has been some discussion as to whether some of the duties under these sections
would not be better and more expeditiously done by a purely Medical Committee,
the question is still under reference.
In Minbu, five meetings were held, the average attendance being 4 out of a
total of 6 members.
The Rangoon Committee paid one visit to the New Asylum at Kokine and
submitted some criticisms which have received attention.
Statement
X.
23. Manufacture Accounts.—The value of manufactured articles taken over
by the Asylums chiefly in the shape of clothing amounted to Rs. 43,146 in 1920 as
compared with Rs. 36,763 in 1919 and Rs. 31,518 in 1918.
Sales chiefly in the form of milk and vegetables to the outside public
amounted to Rs. 3,752 in 1920. Both garden and dairy have been successfully
managed in both Asylums.
24. General.—A good deal of attention both in Great Britain and India has
recently been given to the treatment of lunacy in its earlier stages. Many
authorities advocate a change in name from " Lunatic Asylum " to " Mental
Hospital" on the grounds that a stigma attaches to any who has been in an
Asylum. Whether mere alteration of the name would make any difference is
very doubtful, as long as the institution remains what it now is—a place where
both incurables and those temporarily insane are confined. The best solution of
the difficulty would be two separate institutions—one a " Mental Hospital " where
early and presumably curable cases would undergo treatment, and an " Asylum "
where cases, which presented little or no probability of permanent cure, could be
confined. In the former, curative treatment would be the predominant note, and
in the latter this would be abandoned and attention paid chiefly to the physical
wellbeing of the patients.
A grave disadvantage of the present Rangoon Asylum is that a patient who
has recovered his sanity has to continue his association with insanes often for
long periods. Even an individual who has never been insane and has no tendency to
insanity might well lose his reason if confined in close intimacy with lunatics. No
improvement can be effected in this respect until the new buildings are completed.
J. ENTRICAN, M.A., M.D., D.P.H.,
Lieut.-Colonel, I.M.S.,
Inspector-General of Civil Hospitals, Burma.,