4
MISCELLANEOUS.
14. The male lunatics are employed on cultivation of vegetables, jute, etc., nianu-
Employment of inmates.
facture of gur, repairs of buildings and palisading
carpentry, tailoring, mat and basket making, daily routine
of systematic cleaning and disinfection of buildings and of clothing and cots, cooking
of food and cleaning of utensils, etc. The females are employed on paddy husking
preparation of spices, grinding of pulses for cattle food, etc.
15. Including general wards, solitary cells, hospital, tubercle wards and filthy
Ac
,
patients' ward, there was on the 1st January 1925 accom-
modation for 356 males and 85 females or a total of 441
There was no addition during the year—the maximum number confined on any one
night during the year was 443.
16. Night soil is trenched in a selected site on hospital land outside the stockade
o ..
, ., ,
regularly and properly and infected stools are destrovad
Sanitary and hospital arrange- . °
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f
-,.
. VJOUiU )'«a
ment.
in an incinerator. Latrine parade in a special trench
continues. Water-supply is insufficient even though it i s
supplemented with well water. The food is good and sufficient. Extra allowance
of milk, dahi, rum, eggs, fruits and mustard oil are given to the inmates in poor health
and tubercular cases. There is an ample supply of fresh vegetables from the Mental
Hospital garden. Great care is taken in the matter of personal cleanliness, in mates
taking their bath daily and their clothing being boiled and washed weekly. The cots
of each barrack are scalded weekly.
17. During the year under report the Mental Hospital was visited once by each
,
..
of the following officers :—(1) the Hon'ble Minister, Local
nspec ion.
Self-Government, (2) the Hon'ble Judicial Member of
Assam Government and (3) the Inspector General of Civil Hospitals, Assam.
Meetings.
Twelve meetings were held by the visitors during the year.
18. The administration of the Mental Hospital has been continued in an efficient
manner in spite of the adverse conditions under which it
Generalremarks.
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*.
has had to be carried out.
The present congestion of population is producing very undesirable results which
show up in increasing importance as each year goes by.
The criminal portion of the inmates now totals half the population. These are for
the most part serious cases and their detention in the Mental Hospital is necessarily a
lengthy one. This partly explains the fall in cures and discharges which is becoming
more and more marked.
For want of accommodation only the worst cases among non-criminal lunatics
are accepted as vacancies occur and those for whom accommodation is not available
have to be accommodated in jails which is most undesirable from every point of view.
As only the worst of the non-criminal cases can be received, the number of cures and
discharges is still further reduced.
As the Superintendent points out, the situation is practically coming to this, that
the only vacancies in the near future will be those caused by deaths among the
inmates.
This congestion of the worst types of insanity is already reacting on the health 01
the inmates and the increases in the number of tubercle and dysentery cases is »
disquieting feature of the sickness and mortality returns.
Many of the more serious types of insanity are dangerous, and as it would be
unsafe to place these in barracks of the Himsy type, they have to be accommodate^
in the well built barracks thus leading to overcrowding in these barracks, and over-
crowding is undoubtedly a predisposing cause of the above diseases.
Many of these cases are also filthy in their habits, which is also a predisposes
cause of such diseases.
, .
Plans and estimates have been drawn up for the rebuilding of the mental -j^P^d
and I suggested a beginning during the financial year J925-U6, but it has been &® 0 * ft
that the whole work should be taken in hand and not piece-meal which is P er^? L e(
wise course, but in the meantime the present distressing conditions must still conti
In \iew of the extension of the Mental Hospital which provides for a im^
increase in the accommodation and for an increase in the staff, the remarks 0
Superintendent on the inadequacy of the water-supply are disconcerting. The situa