NOTE
ON THE
LUNATIC ASYLUMS IN BURMA
FOR THE YEAR 1916.
Statement I.
1. Accommodation and Buildings.—During the year under review, the total
accommodation provided in the two asylums of the Province remained at 656 as
in the previous year, allowing room for 566 males and 90 females. The maximum
population on any one night was 713 against 661 in the previous year. On the
31st December 1916, the population of the two asylums stood at 706 against 641
in 1915, and the daily average strength showed a further increase from 623.18 in
1915 to 702.4 in 1916. In the Rangoon Asylum, overcrowding was the order
of the day, and want of space added to want of buildings made matters difficult.
Temporary arrangements had to be resorted to by utilizing the meal sheds as
sleeping barracks. Proposals are now under consideration to afford some imme-
diate relief by adding two new cottages to accommodate 30 patients each for the
male population and by extending the female yard and building one new cottage
to accommodate 30 more female patients. The floor of the day shed in the
criminal enclosure is also to be cemented, so that some accommodation may
be available for a number of quiet and well-behaved patients. The proposed new
asylum at Kokine estimated to cost 35 lakhs and to accommodate 1,000
patients will take some time before it can be built owing to the large outlay
involved and the magnitude of the scheme.
2. Water-supply.—In Rangoon, the supply of pipe-water was not sufficient
for the increased population and staff. The well-water is good. Some of the
wells are to be fitted with pumps. In Minbu, the source of water-supply
continued to be the same as in the previous two years, that is, from the Municipal
water-supply. The quality of the water is reported good and the quantity
sufficient.
Statement I.
3. Sickness and Mortality.—The percentage of mortality to average daily
strength fell from 9.79 and 2.67 to 7.37 and 1.50 in the Rangoon and Minbu Asylums
respectively. In Rangoon, a considerable number of patients are admitted in
bad health and the condition of the existing buildings coupled with the absence of
a sufficient number of nurses for night duty do not tend to reduce the death-rate
any lower. There were 42 deaths during the year, of which 5 occurred among
observation cases, and 17 among lunatics of three months' stay or less in the
asylum. Deaths from Tubercular diseases show great variation from year to
year, the number having been 19 in 1913, 3 in 1914, 19 in 1915 against 8 in the
year under review. Dysentery, which is never absent in this asylum, accounted
for 5 deaths, 3 amœbic and 2 bacillary. The dirty habits of the lunatics and
the absence of proper dysentery wards stand in the way of keeping this disease
under check. Only 3 deaths are attributed to Pneumonia, while septic infections
caused 6 deaths. It is possible that with better accommodation and increased
facilities in nursing, the health of the inmates could be made much better and it
is hoped that when the new Asylum buildings are available at Kokine, this will be
possible. In Minbu, the health of the inmates has on the whole been good and
the two deaths that occurred were due to tuberculosis of the lungs.
4. Escapes and Injuries,—There was one escape and it occurred from the
Rangoon Asylum. This was rendered possible by the carelessness of two keepers
who have been dismissed. One female lunatic in the Rangoon Asylum committed
suicide. This was due to neglect on the part of an Ayah, but the neglect
appears to have been the result of sheer stupidity. One lunatic died of a
ruptured urethera caused by the kick of another lunatic, while a second died from