Froceedings of the Honble the Lieutenant Governor of the Punjab, in the Home (Medical and Sanitary) Depart-
ment, No. 385, dated 7th July 1890.
READ—
Litter from the Inspector-General of Civil Hospitals, No. 1823, dated the 13th of May
1890, submitting the Lock Hospital reports of the Cantonments in the Punjab for
the year ending 31st December 1889.
REMARKS.—These reports which were due in the Civil Secretariat on the
5th of March were again late owing largely to the delay in the submission of the
local reports from the Siálkot, Ferozepore and Meean Meer Cantonments, which
are dated respectively the 6th February, 20th February and 7th March. In the
Circulars from this office No: 158, dated 6th April 1887, and No. 346, dated 21st
July 1888, the Secretaries of all Cantonment Committees in the Punjab were
urged to observe punctuality and correctness in the submission of the reports to
the Inspector-General of Civil Hospitals, and it was said that the reports should
reach that officer by the 1st of February. As those orders have failed to secure
the punctual submission of the reports, the Inspector-General of Civil Hospitals
has been asked to submit a statement of all the Lock Hospital reports received
late this year, so that the attention of His Excellency the Commander-in-Chief
may be drawn to the matter.
2. The Lieutenant-Governor further observes that not only have some
of the reports been delayed, but that there has also been irregularity in the
channel of their submission. In its letter No. 100, dated 30th April 1887,
the Government of India ordered that the reports should be submitted
through the District Officers. Orders were accordingly issued in the letter from
this office No. 337, dated 4th July 1887, that Cantonment Committees should
submit their reports to the Deputy Commissioners
of Districts, and though these orders have not
been withdrawn it would appear that the reports
noted on the margin were not submitted through
the Deputy Commissioner. This omission will be
brought to the notice of the Cantonment Committees concerned.
3. The present reports have an unusual interest, because the year 1889
was the first during the whole of which the voluntary system of the examination
of women was in force. The withdrawal of the old system of registration and
compulsory examination of women was carried out with effect from the 1st of
September 1888. The statistics for that year showed a marked increase of venereal
disease in certain cantonments* in the Punjab as
compared with the statistics for the year 1887, but,
as observed by the Lieutenant-Governor in his
Review on the Report for the year 1888 (No. 448,
dated 3rd August 1889), it seemed inadvisable to
draw conclusions as to the effect of the introduction of the " voluntary system " from
any experience gained in so brief a period as four months. Deputy Surgeon-
General G. Farrell, C.B., Inspector-General of Civil Hospitals, has in his forward-
ing letter exhaustively analysed the statistics for 1889, and has compared them
with those for the two previous years. The period embraced in the comparison
is too short to allow of safe deductions being obtained, but as compared with
1887 there would appear to have been an increase of venereal disease among the
European troops of 13 per cent. in the year under report. The increase has not
been general in all stations, and how far it can be considered due to the intro-
duction of the voluntary system seems doubtful when the statistics for individual
Cantonments are examined. In all the Cantonments which show the worst
results for 1889 except Siálkot the ratio of admissions per mille has been as bad
or worse in one or more years during the quinquennial period.
Dagshai.
Solon,
Meean Meer,
Siálkot.
Attock.
Naushahra.
* Delhi.
Umballa.
Jullundur.
Ferozepore.
Meean Meer.
Mooltan.