During this year several changes and, I consider, improvements have been made
in the allotment of the various portions of the building, all tending to the increase of
the comfort of the inmates.
The large and very roomy inspection chamber at the south end of the hospital I
have given up to the sick women as a ward, as the heretofore existing condition of things
by which the patients were located in a low and open verandah in the courtyard
was quite unsuitable.
I have made a new inspection room out of a spare room near the dispensary.
The comfort to the inmates from this change, by which they escape the fierce heats
of the hot weather and the cold of the winter season, must be considerable, and I
cannot conceive how the previous custom existed so long.
The hospital in every part has been thoroughly ventilated by lattice brickwork
openings.
Terraces in front of the present main ward and in front of the offices have been
erected. Chiks have been supplied for all openings. Grass plats have been made in
the courtyard. A punkah has been put up in the inspection room. A screen, as in
continental hospitals, has been hung up over the inspection table, by which the patient
is saved from much unnecessary exposure. The building has been limewashed
throughout.
There is still, however, one weak point in this hospital : there is no residence on
the spot for the native hospital assistant in charge of the hospital, and owing to this
there is a weak link in the chain of responsibility which should exist between the
medical officer and the lowest servant of the hospital. A suitable site for such a
building as a native hospital assistant would need exists, and I have drawn the atten-
tion of the sub-committee to the subject.
2.
Medical charge.—I took over charge of the hospital from Surgeon J . D.
Gunning, A.M.D., in March, 1877, and the charge has remained in my hands up to
the present date.
3.
Extent of venereal disease in European Garrison.— The weekly venereal returns
of the garrison reached me with unbroken regularity. As far as I can conveniently
trace the records of venereal disease in this garrison, there has never been of late any
year so favourable in its results in lowness of disease ratio. The attacks of venereal
disease per mille per annum have been as follows :—
In 1873
...
. . .
. . .
... 476.20 per mille.
" 1874
. . .
. . .
. . .
... 334.00 "
" 1875
. . .
...
. . .
. . . 525.90 "
" 1876
. . .
. . .
. . .
. . . 243.18 "
" 1877
. . .
. . .
. . .
... 150.8
"
This highly satisfactory ratio for 1877 is 93 per thousand lower than in 1876, which
year was in itself a highly favourable one in every way by comparison with previous
y e a r s . T h e y f o l l o wi n g i s t h e d i s e a s e s t a t e me n t b y r e g i me n t s a n d b a t t e r i e s : —
Venereal disease in 1877 in Fyzabad.
Corps.
Period of occupation. Average strength.
Venereal admissions.
Ratio per 1,000.
1-25th Foot ... 12 months
. . .
8 0 8 . 0 9
Gonorrhœa ...
99
122.3
Primary syphilis
36
44.5
Total
135
166.8
D-19th R. A. ... 10 months
. . .
133.09
Gonorrhœa ...
4
29.8
Primary syphilis
3
22.4
Total strength ...
941.18
Total
7
52.2
Total admissions
142
1 5 0 . 8
By this statement it will be seen that in 1877 there were but 39 admissions for primary
syphilis in an average European cantonment, while in 1875 there were 212 admissions
25