2
patients whose friends expect something better by way of superior accommoda-
tion. The accommodation in this asylum will have to be increased soon as the
number of patients on the male side has already reached the limit. There was
no overcrowding but the population was sometimes at its full capacity in the
male section.
The capacity of the Patna Lunatic Asylum is now 396 (for males 330 and
for females 66). The accommodation in this asylum is now adequate and so
there was no overcrowding. The difficulty arising from the smallness of the
asylum area was met to some extent by sending the lunatics out to work
during the day.
Population.—At the beginning of the year, 295 lunatics (252 males and
43 females) were under treatment at the Patna Lunatic Asylum. Admissions
and re-admissions during the year numbered 78 and 14 males and 13 and 4
females, respectively. The daily average strength was 301.24. Those dis-
charged numbered 73 males and 10 females of whom 42 males and 5 females
were cured, 10 males and 2 females were transferred to their friends in im-
proved condition and one male was taken charge of by his friends before any
improvement could occur. 23 cases were discharged otherwise of whom 21
were under observation and two escaped. Of 21 observation cases, 16, who
were found to be insane, were re-admitted into the asylum. The deaths were 30
males and 5 females. The percentage of those cured to the daily average
strength was 15.60 and the death-rate 11.62 against 12.68 and 11.68, respectively,
in the previous year.
Since its opening 181 patients, of whom 103 were males and 78 females,
were admitted into the Ranchi Asylum. Of these, only six males were dis-
charged cured and six males and five females died, the percentage of recoveries
and the death-rate being 4.56 and 8.36, respectively. The daily average
strength and the maximum number confined in any one night were 131.50 and
170, respectively.
Sickness and Mortality.—The general health of the lunatics at the Patna
Lunatic Asylum is reported to be less satisfactory than in the previous year.
Altogether 499 patients were treated in the Asylum Hospital, the males being
381 and females 118. The daily average sick was 34.45 as compared with 27.25
in 1917. The chief causes of this increase in the proportion of sickness were
(1) outbreaks of Influenza, (2) pollution of water and flooding of the asylum
during the rains and (3) the unavoidable use of drinking water from inferior
sources on account of the pump connected with the boiler being out of order.
The important admissions were for Influenza(102), Ankylostoma (40), Dysentery
(39), Pyrexia of uncertain origin (26), Tuberculosis (13), Diarrhœa (15), Abscess
(35), Mumps (14), Pneumonia (8), Enteritis (4), and Brights' Disease (3). The
total mortality was 35, i.e., 11.62 per cent against 11.68 in the previous year.
The main causes of deaths were Tuberculosis (10), Ankylostoma (5), Influenza
(4), Dysentery (4) and Bright's disease (3).
At the Ranchi Asylum the total number of admissions to the hospital
was 46 males and 12 females, the average daily sick being 2.60 and 1.54, res-
pectively. During October and November, the epidemic of Influenza, which
laid low the whole of the asylum staff, penetrated inside but affected only the
more sane patients (5), two of whom died from this cause. Apart from In-
fluenza which did not actually develop to the intensity of an epidemic there
was no epidemic of any kind throughout the period under review. Nine
patients were admitted for Colitis and thirteen for Malaria, two for Diarrhœa
and three for Bright's disease. A case of chronic colitis received from the
Agra Asylum in a very weak condition, died seven days after admission. The
three patients suffering from Bright's disease also died. At first sight the
death-rate (8.36) appears to have been high but closer scrutiny shows that
this figure is not abnormally so when one realizes that over 38 per cent of the
asylum population was comprised of dements who neglect all simple essentials
in the care of themselves. Moreover some of the patients who died after
coming to Ranchi, had been in confinements in an asylum for a long time.