NationalLibraryOfScotland/medical-history-of-british-india huggingface dataset:
Special in-
quiries when
mortality is
excessive or
when sns-
picious cases
of fever occur.
3. Whenever the deaths reported from any locality are
found to be more frequent than usual, or when any case of
fever with glandular swellings is reported, the Health officer
shall at once make inquiries with a view to ascertain whether
plague exists in the city. District surgeons shall bring to
his notice promptly any circumstances within their pro-
fessional knowledge that may in their opinion aid such
investigation.
Disinfection
of railway
carriages
from infected
areas.
4, When any carriage from an infected area is detached
from a train at any railway station within the city of Madras,
it shall be disinfected and ventilated by the railway author-
ities in the following manner as soon as possible and before
it is again brought into use, such disinfection and ventilation
being effected to the satisfaction of the Health officer or an
officer deputed by him for the purpose :—
(i) Third and intermediate class carriages—
The interior wood-work of the carriages, especially
the floors and seats, shall be thoroughly washed with a solution
of perchloride of mercury (1 in 1,000) and of hydrochloric
acid (2 in 1,000) ; the doors and windows shall be opened, and
the vehicle exposed to the air ; the sweepings shall be carefully
collected and be burnt.
(ii) First and second class carriages—
The floors and wood-work shall be treated as above,
the cushions being also brushed and thoroughly cleansed and
exposed to the sun for not less than four hours.
Disinfection
of railway
carriages in
which plague
patients have
travelled.
a 5. (1) Any railway carriage from which a passenger
who is suffering from the plague has been removed shall be
detached at the nearest convenient station, and shall be
disinfected by the railway authorities as follows :—
(i) The carriages, after being detached from the
train, should be thoroughly washed with soft soap. After an
interval of two to three hours, this should be washed off with
plain water, and then the following disinfecting solution
should be thoroughly sprayed all over the interior as well as
the exterior of the carriages by means of a syringe :—
Corrosive sublimate
Hydrochloric acid
Water
... ½oz.
... 1„
... 3 gallons.
This solution should be allowed to dry on the car-
riages. Special care must be taken to direct the solution
into all the cracks and crevices and jilmills.
a As amended by notification Ko. 452 published at page 821 of part I-A of the
Fort St. George Gazette, dated 4th June 1901.
(ii) After disinfection, the carriages should be kept out
in the open for 48 hours. They can then be brought into
use again.
(iii) In the case of first and second class carriages,
which afford greater facilities than third-class compartments
for the harbouring of plague germs, it will be necessary, if
the carriages are contaminated, to burn the cushions and to
disinfect the wood-work in the manner indicated above, and
repaint the interior.
(2) If a compartment has been used by a suspicious
case of plague, it shall be treated as directed in the preceding
regulation 4. If of the third or intermediate class, its use
may be permitted as soon as it is thoroughly dry ; but if it
be of the first or second class, it shall, after such disinfection,
be kept locked and unused until the nature of the case be
definitely ascertained, when the question as to whether or
not the cushions be destroyed and further disinfection be
effected, shall be decided in accordance with the preceding
clause (1) (iii) of this regulation.
Power to
enter any
building or
place for the
purpose of
inspecting
plague cases
and taking
necessary
measures.
6. The President or any officer authorized by him for
this purpose may at any time enter any building or place in
which plague is reputed or suspected to exist, and inspect
and, if necessary, detain or remove and isolate any person
suffering or suspected to be suffering from plague, or to have
so lately suffered from plague as to be in an infectious state,
or likely from recent contact with plague cases to have been
infected or to be in an infectious state, or believed to have
recently arrived from an infected or notified area.
Bringing of
susceptible
articles from
infected areas
prohibited.
7. The bringing, taking, sending, or consigning, by sea
or land, of soiled linen and used bedding (except when carried
as the personal baggage of travellers), rags, and waste paper
from a plague-infected place in India into or through any
other part of India to which the Epidemic Diseases Act,
1897 (III of 1897) applies, having been prohibited by the
Government of India, the President shall take due steps to
make the prohibition known and to enforce it. Articles
brought in contravention of this prohibition shall be de-
stroyed, and no person shall be entitled to claim compensation
on account of such destruction.
Destruction
of rats.
8. The President shall arrange for the frequent inspec-
tion of consignments of grain arriving from plague-infected
areas and of landing places, railway goods-sheds, and grain
bazaars, and for the killing and subsequent destruction by
burning of all rats found therein. When any place is
infected, steps shall be taken to destroy rats in it and in the
surrounding area.
Restrictions
on. festivals,
fairs, &G.
9. (I) When a festival or fair or other public gathering
which is likely to be attended by persons from plague-infected
parts is about to take place in an uninfected part of the city,
the President shall apply to Government for orders to pro-
hibit their attendance and to enforce the prohibition by
stopping temporarily the issue of railway tickets to such
persons or by other means. A similar course shall be adopted
when a festival or fair or other public gathering which is
likely to be attended by persons from healthy parts is about
to take place in a plague-infected part of the city.
(2) Should any inhabitant of the city be ascertained
to have attended fairs or festivals beyond the municipal
limits which Government has notified as in danger of plague
infection and has therefore directed shall be attended solely
by local inhabitants, the President may require that he shall
take out a passport and undergo surveillance for a period of
ten days.
Part II.—Measures to be adopted when the city is
imminently threatened with Plague.
Declaring-
the city
to be under
observation
and authoriz-
ing the
President to
adopt certain
measures.
10. Should it appear that plague imminently threatens to
attack the city of Madras, Government may declare it to
be under observation and may authorize the President to
establish frontier inspection stations, to arrange observation
circles, to organise sanitary and ambulance staffs, to provide
plague hospitals and camps, and to take such other measures
as may seem necessary.
Duties of the
observation
staff.
11. The observation circles shall, as far as possible, follow
ward divisions so that they may be readily comprehended.
They shall be placed in the charge of men who have received
a special training for dealing with plague to the satisfaction
of the Sanitary Commissioner. The duty of these officers will
be to constantly and systematically patrol the circles in order
to gain the earliest possible information of a case of plague,
so that immediate action may be taken, and to remove with
the aid of the ordinary conservancy establishment all defects
in sanitation which would favour the propagation of plague,
such as accumulations of cowdung, manure or stagnant
sewage, absence of perflation of groups of buildings, &c.
They should also check the possession of passports or passes
in the case of persons arriving from an infected locality.
Should any person so arrive without a passport or pass, or
having broken its conditions, any member of the observation
staff may detain Mm and canse him to be dealt with in
accordance with these regulations.
Provision of
accommoda-
tion for
plague
purposes.
12. The President, if he has not already done so, shall
provide and maintain in such localities, whether within or
without the municipal limits, as in the opinion of the
Health officer may be proper for the purpose, suitable and
sufficient accommodation to the satisfaction of such officer
and the Sanitary Commissioner for Madras, for the following
purposes :—
(a) an hospital camp for the isolation and treatment
of persons suffering or suspected to be suffering
from plague ;
(b) a suspect camp for the detention of contacts ;
(c) a health camp for the occupation of persons who
may be required to vacate any building or
ground under these regulations and who may be
unable to procure necessary accommodation for
themselves.
In the places so provided, the President shall furnish
such hospital establishments, equipment and supplies as the
Health officer and the Sanitary Commissioner may deter-
mine, and shall also make arrangements for feeding persons
detained under any of these regulations on payment by them
of the cost ; but in the case of indigent persons, the President
shall supply them with food free of charge : provided that
any person so detained shall have full liberty to cater for
himself subject to such rules and conditions as the medical
officer in charge may prescribe.
Acquisition
of lands or
buildings
required
for plague.
13. Any building or place, whether within or without the
municipal limits, which is required for and is, in the opinion
of the Health officer, suitable for the purpose of the accom-
modation to be provided under the last preceding regulation,
may be entered upon and occupied without having recourse
to the Land Acquisition Act, 1894 (I of 1894) by the President
or a person deputed by him in this behalf (if unoccupied
without any notice whatsoever, and if occupied after twenty-
four hours' notice in writing conspicuously posted on such
house or building) and may be used for the purposes of the
accommodation under the last preceding regulation ; and
the owner or the lessee of such building or place shall not be
entitled to anything beyond a reasonable rent as fixed by the
President for the period during which the ground or building
may remain in the occupation of the Municipal Commissioners:
provided that the President shall be bound at the cost of the
municipality thoroughly to cleanse and disinfect the ground
and, if a building, fco cleanse, disinfect and, if desired by the
owner, whitewash it. internally and externally after vacating it.
Arrange-
ments for
organizing
ambulance
staff.
14. The President shall make all arrangements for being
able to concentrate immediately when desirable one or more
ambulance staffs together with such equipment as may be
prescribed by Government from time to time.
Concentra-
tion of ambu-
lance staff.
15, When he sees fit, the President may concentrate and
hold in readiness the ambulance staff or staffs.
Conveyances
for the
carriage of
the sick and
of infected
articles.
16. The President shall provide suitable conveyances for
the free carriage to a place provided under No. 12 of these
regulations, or other place, of persons suffering, or suspected
to be suffering, from the plague, and for the transport of any
clothing, bedding or other articles which have been exposed
to infection.
Training
the establish-
ment.
17. He shall see that the whole establishment under him
knows its duties, both while the city is under observation
and also on the outbreak of plague. He shall especially
bring Nos. 1, 2, 3, 7 and 18 of these regulations to the
notice of his subordinates and the inhabitants.
Part III.—Measures to be adopted on the occurrence
of Plague.
Report by
local officers
of occurrence
of plague and
isolation of
patient and
contacts.
a 18. On the occurrence of a suspected or actual case
of plague, it shall be the duty of the sanitary inspector or
other local officer to send intelligence by express to the Presi-
dent and Health officer and if plague inspectors have been
appointed to the nearest plague inspector ; and meanwhile
to isolate the patient and all who have been or suspected to
have been in attendance upon him or in contact with him,
in a place provided under No. 12 of these regulations, or in
their own houses provided they are not plague-infected or
some other suitable places if they can there be segregated with
no greater risk of spreading the infection, or in a hut or shed
to be immediately constructed remote from inhabited houses.
Report by
President
and the action
to be taken
by him.
19. (1) (a) The President, on receiving information, shall
inform Government, the Surgeon-General and the Sanitary
Commissioner.
(b) He shall enforce the measures mentioned in the
preceding regulation.
(c) He shall see that the hospital, the suspect
camp and the health camp are properly organized and
cordoned.
a As amended by notification No. 1019 published at page 586 of part I-A of the
Fort St, George Gazette, dated 3rd December 1901,
(d) He shall see that the patrols and guards round
the infected area completely isolate it, or such part of it as
he deems fit, so as to prevent the return of the inhabitants
without his written permission.
(e) He may order the evacuation and disinfection
of infected houses and houses in their neighbourhood, and
prohibit their re-occupation without permission.
(/) He may require the evicted people to reside
in any place which he may appoint, under such, restrictions as
he may deem necessary, provided proper shelter is available.
(2) When for the purpose of facilitating disinfection,
ventilation, perflation or access to any building or area, the
removal of any building, part of a building, wall or other
obstruction seems to the President desirable, on giving 24
hours' warning of his intention to the owner, agent or tenant
by means of a notice, placed in a conspicuous position and
offering due compensation, he may demolish and remove the
building, part of building, wall or other obstruction.
Inoculation.
20. The President shall arrange with the Sanitary Com-
missioner to place an ample supply of Haffkine's vaccine
within the reach of the inhabitants and shall afford them
every facility for being inoculated.
Certificates
of cause of
death.
21. (1) When he has a sufficient medical staff at his dis-
posal to secure immediate inspection, so that there may be
no chance of funerals being delayed, the President may with
the previous sanction of Government order in respect of any
particular area that the certificate of a medical officer shall
be obtained showing the cause of every death within two
hours after such death.
(2) After the issue of such an order, if a burial or
cremation takes place without such a certificate having been
obtained, the death may be presumed to have been due to
plague, and the rules regarding the segregation of the
contacts and the disinfection of tlie house may be applied.
House
search.
22. With the previous sanction of Government, the
President may organize search parties to visit houses for the
purpose of detecting cases of plague, when there is reason to
believe that the residents are attempting to conceal them.
Sanitary
restrictions
with
regard to
funeral
processions
and burials.
23. (1) The President, when and to the extent he may
deem necessary, may make rules—
(a) for prescribing the route which shall be taken
by a funeral procession, from the place of death
to the grave-yard, burning ground or other
3
place for final disposal of the corpse, and the
places, if any, at which such procession may
halt on its way for funeral prayers, ceremonies
or other purposes ;
(b) for enforcing burial in certain places or at a
certain depth ;
(c) for requiring that the bathing of persons attend-
ing the funeral shall be conducted at a place
prescribed by him.
(2) He may also prohibit the burial or burning of
corpses of persons reasonably supposed to have died of the
plague in or upon ground other than ground specially
assigned by him for such purpose.
(B) When a person dies of the plague elsewhere than
within the limits of a hospital, no one shall touch the corpse
except those who undertake the necessary duties of preparing
it for the funeral. Such persons shall disinfect themselves
according to the orders which may be issued by the Health
officer in this behalf.
Persons
leaving for
an uninfectecl
place should
obtain pass-
ports.
24. (1) The President may require that all persons
desiring to leave an infected quarter of the city to reside in a
quarter, town or village not infected shall, before doing so,
apply to and obtain from such officer as may be appointed
for the purpose passports in the form appended [Appendix
A] to these regulations provided that no passports be issued
to persons suffering, or suspected to be suffering from plague,
or to have so lately suffered from plague as to be in an
infectious state or likely from recent contact with plague
cases to have been infected or to be in an infectious state,
and the said officer may always require, before a passport is
given, the disinfection in a prescribed manner of all clothes
and other articles to be taken away.
Persons
leaving as
infected
place to at-
tend to their
profession or
to reside
temporarily
in the
immediate
neighbour-
hood should
obtain
passes.
(2) Other persons desiring to leave the infected
quarter of the city may be required to obtain, before
departure, passes, which may be of two kinds, either (1)
general [Appendices B and C] or (2) special. [Appendix D.]
(3) General passes may be given to artisans and
others having occasion to make daily or frequent journeys by
road, rail or boat from an infected area, and may be given for
an indefinite period ; but they will not cover residence outside
of the infected area, and will not cover journeys by rail unless
that is expressly stated on them. In the case of agricul-
turists, where the officer granting the pass is satisfied that it
is necessary for the whole family to go and work in the fields,
a single pass may be given for the family, but there must be
a separate pass for each person making a railway journey
under a general pass.
(4) Special passes shall be passes permitting persons
to leave the infected quarter and reside on sites approved by
an officer appointed for this purpose beyond them, and may
be granted for households, provided that the name and
description of each person covered by the pass is entered
therein. The officer issuing the pass may always require,
before the pass is given, the disinfection in the prescribed
manner of all clothes and other articles to be taken away.
Persons holding these passes shall not be allowed to return to
the inhabited area otherwise than under such sanitary restric-
tions as the said officer may, from time to time, require or
until the pass shall have been cancelled by him and disinfection
of clothing and articles to be taken back with them, be
effected should he consider such disinfection necessary.
(5) At convenient spots within, or in the proximity
of, the inhabited area of the infected quarter, the President
shall establish one or more offices for the issue of passports
and passes and shall notify by tom-tom the locality of such
office or offices at such intervals as shall ensure the inhabitants
being aware of their purpose and position.
Exemption
from rules
requiring
passports
and passes.
25. (1) The President may at his discretion exempt from
the necessity of taking out passports persons who are merely
returning from an infected area to their own village after
bringing to market in such area articles of food or fuel;
provided that such return be within eight hours after arrival
and not after sunset, and that such exemption shall not apply
to any such person who may have entered a dwelling house
within the infected area.
(2) The President may also exempt from the necessity
of taking out passports or passes any person with regard
to whom there are no reasonable grounds for suspicion of
infection.
Infected
houses not
to be let until
disinfected.
26. No person shall let, or show for the purpose of letting,
a building or part of a building in which he knows, or has
reason to know, that a person has suffered or is suffering
from, the plague, without having such building or part thereof,
and every article therein likely to retain infection, disinfected
to the satisfaction of the medical officer appointed by the
President in this behalf.
Destruction
of infected
huts or sheds.
27. If the Health officer is of opinion that the destruction
of any hut or shed is necessary t.o prevent the spread of the
plague, the President or any officer generally or specially
authorized by him in writing in this behalf may summarily
take measures for the destruction of such hut or shed and the
materials of which it is constructed.
Disuse of
buildings
unfit for
human
habitation.
28. If it appears to the Health officer that, in view of the
prevalence of the plague within his jurisdiction, any building
within such jurisdiction, intended or used as a dwelling, is in
so insanitary a condition as to be unfit for human habitation,
the President or officer authorized as aforesaid may summarily
cause the same to be vacated, and prohibit, by a written
order, the further use of such building as a dwelling. After
such prohibition no owner or occupier of such building shall
use or suffer the same to be used for human habitation until
the said officer gives written permission in this behalf.
Abatement of
overcrowd-
ing.
29. When any building or place is, in the opinion of the
Health officer so overcrowded as to make the inmates or
occupiers specially liable to an attack of plague, the President
or officer authorized as aforesaid may, by a notice posted on
gome conspicuous part of the building or place, require the
owner or occupier, if actually residing in the building or
place, or the tenants or the actual occupants thereof, to abate,
as prescribed in the notice, the overcrowding within twenty-
four hours by reducing the number of lodgers, tenants or
other occupants of the said building or place, and, in default
of compliance with the requisition in the said notice, may
summarily eject all the inmates or occupants, or reduce the
number of the same in such manner and to such extent as
may appear necessary.
Abatement of
nuisances.
30. The President or an officer generally or specially
authorized by him in writing in this behalf may, when he
considers necessary, enter upon any premises, at any time
during daylight and summarily execute any work required
under, or summarily abate any of the nuisances described or
indicated in, sections 313, 314, 321, 322, 326 or 327 of the
City of Madras Municipal Act, 1884.
Closing
places used
for supply,
preparation,
&c., of
articles of
food and
drink.
31. The Health officer is empowered to close sheds used
for accommodation of animals whose milk or milk products
are sold by the owner or his agent, and places used for the
supply, preparation or storage of articles of food and drink
in infected localities or in the immediate neighbourhood of