GENERAL HOSPITAL.
45
This group, comprehending all the various forms of disease, excepting those specially and
separately considered, accounted for 43 deaths out of 2,371 cases, or 18·1 per thousand.
It is also answerable for 405·6 per mile of the deaths to total deaths from all causes.
In the following Statement the Sickness and Mortality among Men, Women, and Children, is
demonstrated separately during nine years ending 1873.
YEARS.
MEN.
WOMEN.
CHILDREN.
Treated.
Died. Deaths per
mille.
Treated.
Died.
Deaths per
mille.
Treated.
Died. Deaths per
mille.
1885
2,134
148
69·16
177
13
7 3 · 4 4
120
9
75·00
1866
2,051
214
100·33
226
14
12
62·50
139
10
71·94
1867
1,931
123
63·69
284
1 2
4 2 · 2 5
1 6 2
1 7
1 0 4 · 9 3
1868
2,019
142
70·33
267
21
78·65
163
14
8 5 · 8 8
1869
2,224
119
53·50
270
1 3
48·14
147
8
5 4 · 4 2
1870.
2,167
109
50·30
263
15
57·00
121
11
90·90
1871
2,859
76
36·91
348
8
23·52
147
9
61·22
1872
2,856
134
46·88
410
14
34·14
177
8
45·20
1873
2,246
82
36·6
319
14
43·88
158
10
63·29
SURGERY.
One case remained over from the previous year. Seventeen new operations have been
performed with uniformly successful results.
MIDWIFERY.
There have been twenty-four deliveries, and one of these remains over to be accounted
for in the return of 1874. There have been two cases of genuine puerperal fever, and one
of phlegmosia dolens—not, however, contracted in the hospital. One of the cases of puerperal
fever proved fatal. Although at the time there were other confinement cases, in no instance
did the disease spread to any of those actually confined in hospital. Still as this department
is annually increasing, the time is approaching when extended accommodation must be
provided to meet the requirements of the poorer classes of the community. When this
contingency arises, probably the best plan will be either to set apart the present female ward
exclusively for these cases, or to provide for them on the top floor of Dr. McKenzie's division.
DIETING.
This is now conducted so satisfactorily, that there are few complaints against the quality
of the food or the manner in which it is served. There is now an excellent cooking range
for each of the three divisions of the hospital ; and as the establishment of cooks and
kitmutgars has, since the augmentation sanctioned in Bengal Government letter No. 1344,
dated 4th April 1873, been decentralized and redistributed, the feeding of the large number
of sick now always crowding the wards of the hospital is accomplished with promptitude and
punctuality. There is, however, one desideratum, which I earnestly trust will be favorably
considered ; I mean the supply of ghee for cooking purposes instead of mutton suet. This
may seem a small matter ; but the sick are invariably so fastidious about their food, and have
so frequently asked me to have their fish, &c., fried in ghee instead of mutton suet, that
I am disposed strongly to recommend that this economical element in our dieting be replaced
by a sufficient allowance of ghee, even if on trial it be found to involve an increased
expenditure over the stipulated money allowance for each patient. I feel certain that
if this proposal were sanctioned, it would enable me to present the more substantial articles
of the dietary in a much more attractive form than they are, or can be given under existing
circumstances, and thereby to promote the convalescence of the sick.
SANITARY.
The new system of conservancy works admirably. It is a combination of the dry with the
water-carriage system. There is now no excuse for the detention of the sewerage in the compound
until putrefactive decomposition sets in. It is collected twice a day, morning and evening, and
poured into the filth depôt and floated into the main sewer by a sufficient body of water, without
more than a minimum of nuisance. In the interval between the periods when the depôt is
opened, the opening is efficiently plugged, and the receptacle and room in which it exists are
kept scrupulously clean by frequent washing and a liberal supply of McDougall's powder.
By vigilant attention to the privies in the various wards, and the unremitting use of an
adequate quantity of dry earth or McDougall's powder, we have now the power of providing
for the disposal of the night-soil prior to the commencement of decomposition ; whilst we are
not deprived of the means of carefully inspecting the evacuations in cases of disease of the
alimentary canal. In a climate where diseases of the intestines constitute an important
e l e m e n t o f t h e a g g r e g a t e s i c k n e s s , t h i s i s a m o s t c a r d i n a l c o n s i d e r a t i o n ; f o r i t i s o n l y b y s u c h
Sickness and
mortality among
men, women, and
children.
Surgical
operations.
Midwifery.
Puerperal fever.
Dieting.
Ghee in lieu of
mutton fat
recommended.
Conservancy.