10
REPORT ON THE
Death-rate of me--
dical and surgi--
cal cases.
Question of con--
structing a now
hospital.
amenable to treatment. The circumstance again confirms the opinion I have above expressed,
that the death-rate of hospitals must depend more on conditions and influences beyond than
within the hospital.
11. The ratio of deaths among medical cases was 150.4 per 1,000, and among surgical
93.1, against 168.3 and 94.6 of 1870. The death-rate of surgical operations, 155.77, compares
favourably with that of the two previous years. The number of casualties under this head
presumed to depend on hospitalism, though in excess of 1870, contrasts favourably with
former years. This leads me to the subject of the necessity of constructing a new hospital,
on which I would offer a few remarks.
12. The subject of improving and extending the present hospital accommodation was
again raised in August 1871. The Government of India had renewed the offer made in 1869,
of assigning three lakhs of rupees for the purpose of constructing a new hospital provided
a corresponding sum could be obtained from public subscriptions, and the offer was rendered
more liberal by a promise of the same grant if an equal sum could be obtained from the muni--
cipality or from provincial revenues. His Honor the Lieutenant-Governor, in referring the
matter for the opinion of the Principal and Professors, stated that he should consider it his
duty to find the three lakhs in some way or other, and thus in effect placed six lakhs at disposal
for the purpose of extending and improving the construction of the hospital. It was
suggested that if the scheme of abandoning the present site and building a new hospital
were insisted on, the matter would be indefinitely postponed. There was reason to believe that
the present site was not incapable of improvement, and might be rendered healthy by "exten-
ded area, improved drainage, and reformed buildings." His Honor, therefore, recommended
that thought should be taken to utilize the large sum which could now be rendered available in
extending and improving the present site, and providing a new surgical hospital. The
matter was referred to this office for opinion. I stated that, while the construction of a new
hospital on a better site, and in accordance with the hygienic principles and rules of the
present day, would be the best measure, still, if funds were not available for the purpose,
the erection of new separate surgical and obstetric hospitals adjoining the present hospital
would be the next best alternative, and would be an immense improvement. The existing
building would continue to be used for the purposes of a medical hospital. Dr. Chevers,
supported by Doctors Fayrer and Ewart, placed on record a strong opinion that the present
hospital was unsuited for the accommodation of sick of any description—medical, obstetric, or
surgical—and radically and irremediably bad; and that "nothing short of a new hospital
and college from the foundation" would do. The Lieutenant-Governor "received this inti--
mation with much regret," and as the means available would not suffice to accomplish the
radical measures considered absolutely necessary, and no compromise or measure of improve--
ment was accepted as feasible, His Honor was constrained to drop the subject for the present.
This issue must be considered as a most unfortunate one, and I still believe that great and
most salutary improvements may be accomplished by the means available, short of the radical
measures considered necessary by the three officers, who recorded the extreme opinion above
noted; and that, while it appears impracticable at present to obtain the greatest possible good,
the rejection of possible improvements amounts to the perpetuation of demonstrated evils, and
when these evils amount to an avoidable sacrifice of human life, the responsibility of spurning
remedies or even palliatives within grasp, for the sake of a remote and questionable contin--
gency, is a most serious one. I would accordingly counsel that the matter be reopened, and
that the question of what can best be done for the money at command be again made a
subject of deliberation and prompt action.
Departmental con--
trol of the hos--
pital.
13. The relation of the Deputy Inspector-General of Hospitals to the Medical College
Hospital became a subject of discussion towards the close of the year 1870, and after fully
weighing all the considerations advanced for and against placing the institution in direct
relation with this office, it was finally ruled (Bengal Government letter No. 614, dated 22nd
February 1871,) that this hospital should be administered according to the established rules