(5)
returns might have been better under a policy which, as shown by his own
figures, produced higher death-rates in years which were otherwise favourable
beyond comparison. Dr. Irving himself states the fact that in 1875, when the
average cost per diet was 3 annas 11 pies, the death-rate was 28 per cent.; in
1876, when the diet cost 3 annas 9 pies, the death-rate was 25 per cent.; while in
1878, when the diet cost only 2 annas 6 pies, the death-rate was still 25 per
cent., notwithstanding all the unfavourable circumstances of a year of excep
-tionally high prices and great sickness. The Lieutenant-Governor sees in the
results of practice now recorded the strongest primâ facie reason to believe that
the treatment of the sick during the past year at the Campbell Hospital can
have left little to desire in their behalf. If Dr. Irving had considered this
question in the joint interests of the State and the sick poor, as an administrative
officer should have done, he must, the Lieutenant-Governor thinks, have seen
evidence in the events of 1878 that the interests of both had been seriously
neglected in former years; that the public had been made to pay enormously for
medicines and for comforts which never reached the sick; and that the patients
of the Campbell Hospital, while they have cost the State much less in 1878, have
received more liberal and beneficial treatment than they ever received before.
The view which the Lieutenant-Governor has endeavoured to enforce is that a
dram of rum or a pound of rice actually consumed by the patients is far more
efficacious than dozens of portwine or gallons of soup charged for by contractors,
but never seen by the patients. It is no doubt the case that there are many
hundreds of persons in the streets of Calcutta whose health might be improved,
and indeed from whom disease might be averted, by "a liberal use of generous
soups, milk, stimulants, and other kinds of food;" and the Lieutenant-Governor
knows of no town in the world of which the same might not be said; but he is
not aware that any Government in the world has recognized it as a part of its
duty to raise taxes for the purpose of averting disease by a system of general
liberal public diets. The mortality to which Dr. Irving alludes is to a great
extent attributable, as he has elsewhere admitted, to the enormous number of
moribunds sent to the pauper hospital in a state generally in which no diet in
the world could help them. In the treatment of the sick the officers of the
hospital have the fullest possible power to order any diet they consider actually
necessary for the preservation of life.
8. The subscriptions to the various medical institutions amounted during
the year to Rs. 25,134, against Rs. 35,075 in 1877 and Rs. 11,291 in 1876.
While the subscriptions from Europeans fell from Rs. 31,609 to Rs. 11,134,
those from natives rose from Rs. 3,465 to Rs. 14,000. Of the whole amount
subscribed, Rs. 17,495 was received by the Mayo Hospital. The Mayo, the
North Suburban Hospital, and the Alipore Dispensary, all invested surplus funds
during the past year.
9. Calcutta Hospital Nurses' Institution and Lady Canning Home.—The
scheme of out-nursing, which was the main object of the amalgamation of the
two institutions, was successfully introduced during the past year, and many appli--
c a t i o n s f o r o u t - n u r s e s w e r e r e c e i v e d , e v e n i n a n t i c i p a t i o n o f t h e f o r m a l o p e n i n g
of the out-nursing department. The institution has now a nurse in constant
attendance on the sick in each ward of the Medical College and General
Hospitals, and both the Principal of the Medical College and the Superin
- t e n d e n t o f t h e G e n e r a l H o s p i t a l h a v e a g a i n r e c o r d e d t h e i r t e s t i m o n y t o t h e
gradually increasing efficiency of their staff of nurses, their attention to duty
and their kindness to the sick. A new building erected for the accommodation of
the out-nurses and the nurses attached to the General Hospital was opened
at the close of the year.
10. Medical College Hospital.—Exclusive of 546 house patients in the
ophthalmic hospital, there were 4,602 in-door patients treated during the year,
of whom 2,541 were Christians and 2,061 natives. The death-rate was
13.56 per cent., as compared with 10.83 in 1877 and 13.62 in 1876. Exclud
- i n g m o r i b u n d c a s e s , t h e d e a t h - r a t e w a s 1 1 . 2 p e r c e n t . o f t h e n u m b e r
treated. One hundred and eighty-four surgical operations, classified by the
Principal as capital operations, were performed during the year or remained
under treatment at the end of 1877, and of these only 22 died. The death
- r a t e p e r c e n t . w a s 1 1 . 9 6 , a s c o m p a r e d w i t h 1 7 . 0 3 , 2 1 . 8 1 , 2 2 . 7 2 , 1 9 . 7 5 a n d 2 5 . 9 2 i n
the five preceding years. Adopting, however, the system of classification used by