REPORT ON THE HOWRAH GENERAL HOSPITAL
For the year 1873.
I TOOK charge of the hospital on the 1st July 1873 from Dr. J. Elliott.
Superintendence.
This hospital was opened really on the 1st April 1861, the day on which the first
patient was admitted, and formally by the Lord Bishop of Calcutta on the 6th May follow-
ing. The institution is to be regarded as the successor of the old Howrah Seamen's Hospital,
which was abolished in 1852 to make way for the railway-station. Between the abolition of
the Seamen's Hospital and the opening of the present hospital there was an interval of nine
years, during which the medical wants of the place were very imperfectly supplied by the
native charitable dispensary and by the railway hospital for Europeans. This latter was
accommodated in a ruinous building, the wards of which were so damp and dark, that they
were scarcely ever inhabited. When the present hospital was opened, the establishments of
the railway hospital and of the charitable dispensary were moved into it, and the two separate
institutions amalgamated.
Brief history of the
hospital.
This hospital building, with out-houses and fittings, cost nearly Rs. 70,000. About
Rs. 50,000 of this amount were raised by public subscription, the remainder were realized
mainly from fancy fairs. The annual fancy fair of Calcutta was originated by this hospital
committee.
cost of hospital
buildings.
The hospital was well frequented from the beginning. At first the income of the
institution was insecure and uncertain, and it was freely predicted that bankruptcy would compe
ll
the committee to close the doors before long and to use the building as a lodging-house. Step
by step, however, the hospital won its way to public favor, and through this to liberal
public help, chiefly in the shape of fancy fairs held at the Botanical Gardens on New Year's
Day. For ten years, viz. from 1861 to 1871, the building was kept in repair, deficiencies
in the income were made good, and additions of various kinds were carried out mainly from
the profits of fancy fairs. This gave the committee time to increase the annual income,
which is now, as will be seen from the balance sheet given below, in a fairly satisfactory
state. In 1871 Dr. D. B. Smith, the then civil surgeon, appealed to the public for help,
and the appeal was responded to with a subscription of Rs. 14,000. This was an indication that
the institution stood high in public esteem. In 1872 Dr. Elliott, Dr. Smith's successor,
aided by Dr. Saunders, made some radical changes in the establishment, which led to a
present saving in the monthly pay-bill of upwards of Rs. 200. The nurse's pay was much
reduced (too much so), and the house surgeons, who had hitherto not belonged to govern-
ment employ, were now drawn from the government lists. The present house surgeon
the European department belongs to the European subordinate medical establishment, while
the present house surgeon in the Native department is a sub-assistant surgeon. They
are paid from hospital funds ; but as their appointments here carry with them the advantages
of promotion and pension, they are satisfied with a less monthly pay than men who having
no such prospects would be. This concession on the part of government is in my estimate
equivalent to a monthly subscription of Rs. 100.
The average number of daily sick during the ten years ending 1873 has been as
follows :—
Average daily sick
for the years
1864-73.
AVERAGE DAILY SICK.
YEARS.
Europeans.
Natives.
In-door.
Out-door.
In-door.
Out-door.
1864
30·33
17·41
16·75
45·41
1865
41
21
18
37
1866
40·62
22·17
23·66
69·50
1867
32·91
15·50
12·50
71·60
1868
36·58
16
24·30
64·25
1869
44·58
15·50
25
71·50
1870
40·20
16·86
23·67
68·04
1871
33·47
17·03
25·64
81·14
1872
29·18
13·92
22·11
93·20
1873
35·93
15·30
34·24
95·06