Resolution on the Report of the Teziour Lunatic Asylum for the year
1897.
Extract from the Proceedings of the Chief Commissioner of Assam, in the "Judicial
Branch, No. 1641J., dated Shiilong, the ^th May 1898.
Read-
Letter No. 63T., dated the 25th February 189S, from the Principal Medical Officer and Sanitary
Commissioner, Assam, to the Secretary to the Chief Commissioner of Assam, forwarding
the Annual Report of the Tezpur Lunatic Asylum for the year 1897.
RESOLUTION.
Only lunatics from the Brahmaputra Valley and Hill Districts are confined in
the Tezpur Lunatic Asylum : those from the Surma Valley are £ent to the Dacca
Asylum in Bengal.
2. The population of the Tezpur Asylum at the beginning of the year numbered
126 patients, 99 males and 27 females, and at the close of the year there were 118
patients, 94 males and 24 females, of whom 60 were natives of Assam, 53 were
coolie immigrants, while the nationality of 5 patients was unknown. On the 1st of
January 1897, there were 28 criminal lunatics, against 30 at the close of the year.
The Superintendent and the Principal Medical Officer bring to notice that difficulty
is experienced in preparing the statement giving the crimes committed by criminal
lunatics in confinement. In future, this information should always be given by Magis-
trates when forwarding criminal lunatics to the Asylum. Out cf the 20 non-criminal
lunatics admitted during the year, it appears that 7 came from the Lakhimpur and
6 from the Darrang districts, and it is evident that sufficient attention was not paid by
the Deputy Commissioners to the rule which enjoins that ordinarily only such non-
criminal lunatics should be committed to Asylums as are dangerous or in the acute
stage of insanity.
The female ward has unfortunately been burnt down since the close of the year, but
advantage will be taken in rebuilding it to remedy the defects pointed out by the Super-
intendent. Separate hospital accommodation for females is needed, and this also should
be provided during the current year.
3. The percentages of admissions to hospital and of deaths to daily average
population were 75*07 and 8'16, respectively, as against 11171 and 6'oi in the preceding
year. The increased death-rate is accounted for by the exceptional unheahhiness of
the year. Iron and quinine were administered to the lunatics as prophylactics from the
1st June to the 30th November. Of the ten deaths which occurred, one was accidental.
A male patient was pulling a log of wood out of the river on the 12th June when the
earthquake occurred. The bank gave way, and he fell into the river and was drowned.
4. The expenditure for the year amounted to Rs. 13,057-11-0, as against
Rs. 10,500-5-0 in 1896 ; the cost per head of the average strength was Rs. 103-15-2,
as compared with Rs. S7-4-S in 1896, and Rs. 93-8-3 in 1895, the increase being due
chiefly to the high price of provisions. The average cost per head for the whole
of India in 1896 was Rs. 105-9-0.
The net profit from the manufacturing department was Rs. 1,090-j-7, against
Rs. 1,069-10-5 in 1896. The total earnings of the lunatics amounted to Rs. 1,320-5-31
vte. t Rs. 791 -14-9, value of garden and dairy produce, and of cloths woven by the