4
Females are employed on paddy husking, preparation of spices, grinding pulse
for cattle food and some sanitary duties.
Garden
(b) The Mental Hospital garden continues to do well
yielding some profit and a useful addition t-> the dietary.
The cultivated area of land was increased during the year under report. But it
will take some time to bring the whole into the proper standard of fertility.
(c) The accommodation available at the end of the year including filthy ward,
Accommodation.
cells, infirmaries, tubercle wards and better clas« paying
patients' wards was 566 for males and 124 for females or
a total of 690 on completion of rebuilding of the Mental Hospital.
The accommodation of 690 includes a very old barrack for 24 male patients.
This barrack has got many defects and is unsuitable for housing mental patients. It
is used for reserve patrol keepers at night.
The maximum number confined on any one night during the year under review
was 547 against 445 in 1929.
(d) Night soil is trenched in a selected site on garden
land and infected stools are incinerated outside the enclo-
Night soil and hospital arrange-
ment.
sure.
(e) Insufficiency of water in tho male section and acute shortage in the staff lines,
Water supply.
remarked again and again in previous years, still conti-
nues.
(/) The food is good and sufficient. Extras consisting of milk, dahi, eggs, fruits,
Food
etc., are given, as before, to inmates in poor health.
(g) Great care is taken in the difficult matter of personal cleanliness of inmates.
Cleanliness.
Clothing.
Discipline.
Amusement and Eecreation.
Their clothing is boiled and washed weekly.
(h) Good and sufficient,
(i) Good.
Meetings.
(;') Lunatics are kept amused with musical instruments
and games. Literate lunatics are provided with books,
newspapers and pictorial magazines.
(k) The Hospital was visited during the year under
Inspections.
^^ by _
(1) The Inspector-General of Civil Hospitals, Assam
Twice.
(2) The Commissioner, Assam Valley Division
Once.
(I) Twelve meetings of visitors were held during the
year.
GENERAL BEMARKS.
17. There is a marked improvement in the general health of the patients since
the completion of reconstruction of the hospital. But it will take some time to
clear up the aftermath of diseases like dysentery and tubercle due to previous over-
crowding.
ADMISSIONS.
18.(1) The lunatics awaiting admission in the different jails of the province
were all received during the year- Besides these, acute oases were also received.
'1 his accounts for the high number of admissions during the year.
(2) "With the admission of acute oases, it is hoped to show a higher percentage
of recoveries in future. During the last few years, owing to the limited accommoda-
tion caused by overcrowding, it was possible to accommodate only the most serious
and chronic cases—a selection of the worst cases detained in jails. These cases affect
the recovery rate adversely.
(8) The remarks made in the report of 1929 regarding criminal mental patients
charged with petty offences and incomplete documents of new admissions have had no
effect. A batch of patients were brought to the hospital gate with no documents
whatever, not even a nominal roll—only the usual command certificate of the police
escort which was fully armed. Surely the latter was unnecessary.