REPORT ON THE LUNATIC ASYLUMS IN BURMA FOR THE TRIENNIUM 1909—1911.
3
9. Diet.—The diets issued were according to scales prescribed. Through-
out the year a good supply of fresh vegetables was obtained from the Asylum
gardens. In Minbu milk was the only special kind of diet issued. Beef is issued at
present once and pegya twice in a week to the inmates of the Asylum. The substi-
tution of beef for a second day weekly instead of pegya is considered desirable.
Milk has been obtained from the Rangoon Asylum Dairy and has been freely issued
when considered advisable.
10. Employment.—The
greater number of the lunatics who are capable of
work are employed as Asylum servants being engaged in drawing water, gardening
and in general cleansing and conservancy. Other forms of labour are weaving,
paddy grinding, and employment in the gardens and Dairy.
Statement I.
11. Sickness.—In
1909 in the case of the main Asylum the total daily'
average of sick people in hospital amounted to 19.64, 24.66 in 1910 and
31.30 in 1911. The majority of non-criminal patients are in very poor health
when admitted in the Asylum. Cases admitted for dysentery have been very high,
being 30 against 5 in 1910 and 2 in 1909. In June alone 10 cases were admitted
and in the following month 7 ; of the 30 cases treated 6 proved fatal. The Super-
intendent expresses his inability to trace the cause of this outbreak, as the
Asylum has been in previous years remarkably free from this disease which is the
scourge of the other Indian Asylums, as are bowel complaints of those in England.
The water-supply having remained the same as in previous years, the disease is
not traceable to that source. Further, all drinking water is filtered under super-
vision before use and a large number of keepers drink the same water unfiltered
without any bad result. Dysentery was very rife in Rangoon during the year and
the incidence of the disease in the Asylum corresponds closely month for month
with that in Rangoon Town generally and in Lammadaw Circle specially. The
number of admissions to hospital for acute mania was much higher in 1911 than
in the two preceding years of the triennium.
In Minbu the daily average sick which rose from .97 in 1909 to 2.42 in 1910
again fell to 1.85 in 1911. There were no cases of cholera in the Asylum though
the disease prevailed epidemically in the town during the months of September and
October.
Taking the two Asylums together the daily average sick has shown a steady
increase from 20.61 in 1909 to 27.08 in 1910 and 33.15 in 1911 and the increase
is all from the male section of the Asylum. While the percentage of the number
cured to the daily average strength showed improvement from 7.44 in 1909 to
10.52 in 1910 it has again fallen to 8.73 in 1911.
Statement I.
12. Mortality.—The total number of deaths in the two Asylums is 72 against
42 in 1910 and 49 in 1909. There were only four deaths in Minbu one from chronic
Bright's disease, one for valvular disease of the heart, and the other two for tuber-
cular diseases —the percentage of mortality to daily average strength being 3.19
against 4.07 in 1910 and 3.21 in 1909. On the other hand, Rangoon contributed
a considerably higher number of deaths in 1911 than in preceding years of the
triennium. There were 68 deaths in the year under review against 37 in 1910
and 45 in 1909. The percentage of death to daily average population was 13.48
against 7.33 in 1910 and 9.37 in 1909.
Twelve died within two months of admission, 6 being in the first month ;
and among the chronic cases 33 died as against 17 in 1910 and 20 in 1909.
Post-mortem examinations were carried out in 46 cases. The increase can
only be explained by the fact that a larger number than usual of the patients
admitted during the year were in a moribund condition. The outbreak of the
dysentery alone accounted for 6 deaths. The deaths traceable to cerebral
diseases in 1911 have been 27 against 21 in 1910 and 3 in 1909.
13. Injuries and escapes.—In 1909 one criminal lunatic escaped from the
main Asylum and is still at large. In 1910 two civil inmates escaped but one
was recaptured immediately: the other has not been traced. In 1911 one
civil lunatic escaped and was recaptured after two months. No serious cases of
injuries necessitating report occurred at the Asylums in the Province during the
last year of the period under review.