4
REPORT ON THE
Conclusions drawn
from statement
No. II
This statement gives an interesting comparative view of the different classes of the
Calcutta and suburban communities who seek for public medical relief, and the general
results of mofussil hospitals and dispensaries in 1870 are given for the sake of comparison.
The proportions are disturbed. by the practice of those hospitals which allot a certain amount
of accommodation to Europeans and Natives, or to males and females. Still the following
conclusions may safely be drawn from the figures :—
as regards race
and caste,
STATEMENT No.III.
CLASSES.
PERCENT. OF TREATED.
In-door.
Out-door.
Total.
Calcutta. Mofussil. Calcutta. Mofussil. Calcutta. Mofussil.
Europeans
25·8
4·24
4·1
·82
7·4
·9
Eurasians
7·9
·7
6
8·8
1·28
8 · 7
1·3
Hindoos
44·6
66·02
48·2
61·39
47·6
61·6
Mussulmans
19·4
26·79
35·2
34·66
32·7
34·3
Other castes
2·3
2·19
3·7
1·85
3·6
1·9
The greater number of Europeans
and Eurasians treated in Calcutta,
as compared with the mofussil, is
only what might be expected. It
is remarkable how much larger a
proportion of Europeans than Eu
rasians obtained in-door treatment
in the Calcutta hospitals, while as
out-door patients Eurasians prepon
derate. Hindoos exceed Mussul
mans both in Calcutta and else-
where : the excess is mere marked
as regards sex.
Rates of mortality
lower in 1871.
Effect of improved
dieting.
Cause of reduction
of death-rate.
in the mofussil dispensaries, and the disproportion there is greater among in-door patients.
In Calcutta, Mussulmans constitute a larger proportion of out-door than in-door sick.
With regard to sex the proportion of Eurasian females treated in-door, and Eurasian
children out-door, in the Calcutta hospitals, is remarkable. In the Calcutta hospitals Hindoo
females appear to constitute a larger share of in-door patients than Mahomedan ;. in out-door
practice the disparity is very slight. In the mofussil, the proportion of Mahomedan and
Hindoo females and children applying for medical relief, both in-door and out-door, is very
similar ; but the larger proportion of women and children of " other castes" treated, both
in-door and out-door in mofussil dispensaries, is very striking. In future years these tables
will be very interesting, as affording some indication of the state of feeling and habit of
the different classes specified.
4.
Mortality rates. —These are shown in statement No. I as contrasted with 1870.
The general result is that the rates of 1871 are decidedly lower than those of 1870. The
only exception are the Alipore Dispensary and Howrah Hospital. The causes of increase in
these cases will be explained in the report of provincial hospitals and dispensaries. The
lowered death-rate in the Municipal Pauper Hospital is peculiarly satisfactory, inasmuch as no
restriction is imposed on the admission of patients, while cases are constantly rejected from
the Medical College and Native Hospitals, which are subsequently admitted into the Pauper
Hospital. Again, the reduction of the rates among Europeans both in the Medical College
and General Hospitals is not in the slightest degree affected by the circumstance above noted.
Mr. Saunders, Deputy Inspector-General of Hospitals of the Presidency Circle, lays
great stress upon the improved dieting of patients in the Medical College and General
Hospitals. Generous dieting is, of course, a primary requisite in hospital management, and
the liberality of Government in sanctioning as generous a dietary as the officers, adminis
trative and executive, concerned in the management of these hospitals consider necessary, is a
subject of unmingled satisfaction. Still, more expensive feeding does not, in my opinion,
account for this broad and general reduction in mortality ; and I am constrained to believe
that the year and community have been more healthy, and that the circumstances of the
lower classes of natives, who have always contributed, and do still contribute, the largest
number of fatal cases, are improving.
I am convinced that the issue of these cases depends far more on the circumstances in
which they were placed and the incidents of their life history before they have entered hospitals
than on what may happen to them during the few days or weeks of their treatment in