REPORT
ON THE
LUNATIC ASYLUMS OF BURMA
FOR THE TRIENNIUM 1918-20.
There are two Asylums in Burma, Rangoon and Minbu. The latter was
formerly a Jail, and has been used as an overflow for selected cases from the
Rangoon Asylum. The proposal to utilize Kindat Jail as a subsidiary Asylum
has been abandoned.
The Reports received leave a good deal to be desired, especially those
sections dealing with the various statements I to X. The remarks consist for
the most part of a paraphrase of the statistics, with little attempt to show what
deductions can be drawn from them, or in what direction they point. Nor are
the numerous anomalies contained in these statements explained. Some of the
figures given are confusing and cannot be reconciled with previous returns or
reports.
Statement
I.
2. Accommodation.—The aggregate accommodation at the end of 1920 was
768 (659 males and 109 females) as compared with 746 (626 males and 120
females) at the end of 1917. The increase was confined to Rangoon. The
accommodation in Minbu remained as formerly, 136.
3. Rangoon Asylum.—The total accommodation was 632 (523 males and
109 females) at the close, compared with 610 at the opening of the triennium.
The male section was increased by 33 and the female diminished by 11. Two
new wards for males were built, each having accommodation for 30 male patients,
and a new European ward for 2 patients; but owing to some cottages being
condemned as unfit for occupation, and other re-arrangement, the net gain in the
accommodation was only 33. Re-arrangements in the female side to form a
Tubercular ward, etc., resulted in a reduction of the accommodation by 11. The
total increase during the triennium was therefore 22 only, which lagged far behind
the increase of the population. Electric lighting was installed all over the Asylum
in 1918 and. has proved a great boon. General repairs and minor improvements
to many of the buildings were carried out but some of them are almost past repair,
as the following extract of a letter from the Executive Engineer, Syriam Division,
dated the 28th February 1917 shows:—" Whilst on the subject of cottages in
general I should like to place on record before handing over charge of this
division, that the state of all cottages is such that it is impossible to say how long
they will last. For the last three years I have condemned them, such repairs as
could be done have been done, and I cannot guarantee they may not fall at any
time." Fortunately, this contingency has not yet arisen, but it is evident that
some of the buildings have nearly reached their limit.
4. Minbu Asylum.—The accommodation has remained at 136, but this
figure is calculated at 36 square feet of sleeping accommodation per inmate, a
low figure, which might be doubled with advantage. The building is a converted
Jail, by no means an ideal place, but only selected lunatics are sent to it. The
cells, five in number, where refractory and dirty prisoners are confined, have
been improved by replacing wooden by cemented floors. The buildings
generally speaking are in a good state of repair, except the ground floor of the
main dormitory which requires to be re-made.
The building of the female section of the new Lunatic Asylum at Kokine
has been in progress for a couple of years, and is expected to be ready for
occupation before the end of the present year. Major W. S. J. Shaw, Superin-
tendent of the Yeravda Asylum in Bombay, who was on the Committee which