14
REPORT ON THE
The heavy charge is at once explained by reference to the indents of the Mayo
Hospital and dispensaries and to the Medical Examiner's price list. The single
item of out-patient tickets accounts for the greater part of the amount. Of these
tickets there are returned as expended in a year no less than 96 thousand. Their
price is Rs. 31-4 per thousand, and the total cost of the quantity was therefore
Rs. 3,000. The price (six pie) for a small scrap of printed paper seems
extravagant, and I propose to take steps at once, subject to the approval of
Government, towards obtaining the tickets elsewhere and simplifying their form.
The number used in the hospitals and dispensaries of the province is necessarily
very large. The irregularities of charge for forms in the several institutions
will be investigated shortly. They point to the possibility of considerable
changes.
51. The exact cost of medicines and instruments in 1879 was Rs. 3,362.
The cost for 1878 does not appear, as the Accountant-General includes it in
one total with other charges of the Medical Store Department. This total
presents correct excess of Rs. 690 over that of 1878. Bazar medicines also rose
in cost from Rs. 1,793 in 1878 to Rs. 1,969 in 1879. Diets cost Rs. 5,611 in
1879, against Rs. 5,216 in 1878, though in-patients were fewer; and the average
cost was 2 annas 8 pie, against 2 annas 2 pie, though market prices were lower.
Miscellaneous charges in 1879 amount to Rs. 11,651, or Rs. 4,314 more than in
1878. They are laden with the cost of books, forms, and sundries from the
Store Department, amounting to Rs. 3,245. The corresponding charge in 1878
was included in the estimate for English medicines. Buildings and repairs cost
last year Rs. 3,159, against Rs. 7,983 in 1878.
52. Ho wr a h Ge n e r a l Ho s p i t a l . — I n v e s t e d
c a p i t a l , t o t h e a m o u n t o f
Rs. 14,900, was the same as in the previous year, and the cash balance, viz.
Rs. 622, was in excess of 1878.
53. The Government outlay on this hospital amounted to Rs. 15,304 in
1879; in 1878 it was Rs. 9,910. The increase is due to a special grant for exten
- s i o n o f E u r o p e a n a c c o m m o d a t i o n . E x c l u d i n g t h i s ( R s . 1 0 , 5 0 1 ) , t h e c o s t t o
Government in 1879 was less than in 1878 by Rs. 5,107. Of this difference
Rs. 2,903 represented reduced cost of medical stores issued, and the rest was
due to decrease of expenditure under other heads.
54. Income from paying patients, &c., amounted to Rs. 20,430, against
Rs. 19,995 in 1878. The municipality paid Rs. 2,722, against Rs. 2,550.
Interest on invested money produced Rs. 637, against Rs. 633. European
subscriptions fell from Rs. 3,052 to Rs. 1,813, and native subscriptions from
Rs. 164 to the insignificant sum of Rs. 95.
55. The cost of the Howrah establishment in 1879 was Rs. 11,050, less
by Rs. 673 than in 1878, when it was Rs. 11,723. Bazar medicines fell from
Rs. 812 to Rs. 232. English medicines cost Rs. 1,201. The exact figure for
1878 cannot be obtained from the accounts, but the total charge for medical
stores was Rs. 4,573 in 1878 and Rs. 1,671 in 1879. Diets, which in 1878 cost
Rs. 10,585, cost in 1879 only Rs. 5,498. The average cost of European diets
fell from 9 annas 4 pie to 7 annas 4 pie, and that of native diets was unaltered
— 1 a n n a 7 p i e . M i s c e l l a n e o u s c h a r g e s f e l l f r o m R s . 7 , 4 4 1 i n 1 8 7 8 t o R s . 4 , 3 1 6
in 1879. On buildings there was heavy outlay in 1879, viz. Rs. 6,134. It
was Rs. 548 only in the previous year.
56. The charge for medical stores at Howrah must, for the purpose of com
- p a r i n g i t w i t h o t h e r s , b e s u b j e c t e d t o a c e r t a i n c o r r e c t i o n . R a i l w a y s e r v a n t s
attend the hospital as out-patients, but receive medicine from a separate store,
thereby reducing the Government expenditure. I find, however, that the
entire charge for railway medicine in the last six months of 1879 was no more
than Rs. 81; so that very little correction is necessary.
57. The average cost of native diets is so small that I have made particular
enquiry concerning it on the spot. I questioned the assistant surgeon in charge
of the native ward minutely. He maintained that he had never been invited
or induced to withhold anything that he thought necessary for his patients, and,
when pressed to reconcile the low charges with the large number of moribund
persons, shewed clearly that the latter was the reason of the former; that
moribund persons can commonly swallow nothing, and that to press them with
food and stimulants is often only to cause them needless distress. The truth