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cinchona alkaloids given with ether have yielded better results than were formerly
obtained with quinine. Nearly one-fourth of the deaths in the European wards
of the General Hospital resulted from cholera; 43 out of 73 cases ending
fatally. Of the 73 cases 65 were received direct from the shipping. Of 18
cases of typhoid fever, 16 were from the shipping. The number of cases
of sunstroke was nearly double the average of the past ten years, and of
the 20 cases admitted there were six deaths. Many of the cases were of a very
severe type, the sufferers being almost moribund on admission. During the
year an operating theatre and a lying-in-room were added to the hospital
building and both are now in use. The Lieutenant-Governor also sanctioned
the erection of new quarters for the nurses and the work was begun before
the close of the year. The department of the Sumbhoonath Pundit's Ward for
out-door patients was abolished on the 31st December, and as the cost of the ward
was found to be out of all proportion to its usefulness, the Lieutenant-Governor
has recently ordered it to be altogether closed.
14. Campbell Hospital.— During the year under review the continually
increasing expenditure of this pauper hospital attracted the attention of
Government, and induced the Lieutenant-Governor to appoint a special committee
to institute a searching enquiry into its administration. The result of the
committee's enquiry was to show that under lax supervision the expenditure had
increased in a way that left little doubt that peculation and dishonesty
were rife amongst the subordinate establishment. A complete change in the
administrative staff has been made. The Lieutenant-Governor has every
reason to hope that under Dr. Mackenzie's careful and energetic supervision the
expenditure will be reduced within proper limits The number of admissions
was 6,600 against 6,279 in the previous year, but the daily average number of
patients was 22 less than in 1876. The death-rate was 24.8 per cent. against
25 per cent. in 1876 and 28 per cent. in 1875. Excluding the moribund cases,
the mortality was somewhat greater than in 1876, being 23.2 against 22.4 per
cent. The very high rate of mortality in this hospital is due to the fact that it
has been the practice to transfer to this institution many patients in a low or
dying condition. From a statement given in the report, it appears that, in the
years 1876 and 1877, 63 and 52 per cent. respectively of those who died in the
hospital succumbed within a week of their admission. The Superintendent
invites attention to the fact that a large number of pauper patients belonging
to the suburbs of Calcutta, as well as all the small-pox cases from the
suburbs of Calcutta and from Howrah, are admitted to this hospital; and he
suggests that the municipalities of the Suburbs and of Howrah be each invited to
give an annual donation to the hospital. The Commissioners of the Presidency
and Burdwan Divisions will be requested to bring Dr. Mackenzie's suggestion
before the Suburban and Howrah Municipal Commissioners.
15. Mayo and Chandney Hospitals.—Inall 190,030 persons received treatment
in these hospitals during the year as compared with 189,690 in 1876, and the
death-rate among the in-door patients was 12.04 per cent. against 12.72 per
cent. in 1876. The divergences in the death-rate from the same diseases among
the house patients at the Mayo and the Chandney Hospitals was noticed in the
last year's Resolution, and similar divergences are noticeable in the report
for the past year. The mortality at the Mayo Hospital was 13.12 per cent., or
about two and a half times that of the Chandney Hospital.
16.
Howrah Hospital.— There was a further increase this year as compared
with 1876 in the number of both in-door and out-door patients. The number of
European and Eurasian in-door patients rose from 868 to 953, but there was a fall
of more than a thousand in the number of christian out-door patients. The
number of native in-door and out-door patients rose from 1,472 and 12,422 res-
pectively in 1876 to 1,510 and 14,329 respectively in 1877. The mortality both
among christian and native in-door patients was considerably higher than in 1876,
being 3.99 per cent. among the former and 25.23 among the latter. Of the 419
deaths during the year, 276 occurred within ten days of the admission of the
patients. This hospital receives a large proportion of the neglected sick
and the ill-fed poor of the town, and very many of those brought to the hospital
are in the very last stage of disease. The Surgeon-General calls attention to
the use of the Ixora in cases of dysentery. This remedy was introduced by
Assistant-Surgeon Umrito Lall Deb, in charge of the native department of the