24
REPORT ON THE
89.
Campbell Hospital.—Surgeon-Major S. C. Mackenzie was in charge of
the hospital throughout the year.
90. The total number of patients treated was 8,252 in 1889, against 6,497
in 1888, exhibiting an increase of 1,755 patients. The cause of this increase is
expl ai ned by Dr . Mackenzi e as f ol l ows : —“The pat i ent s of t hi s hos pi t al ar e
admitted from the poorest classes, and when the price of rice rises in the market,
they are unable to purchase sufficient food and clothing, and a larger number
naturally when ill-fed and clothed fall victims to cold and exposure, and hence
in years of scarcity seek admission into this hospital in larger numbers than in
years of plenty. The price of rice in 1889 being higher than in 1888, a larger
number of patients sought admission into the hospital.” The diseases from
which they principally suffered were, the Superintendent says, malarious
fevers, diarrhœa, dysentery, debility and rheumatic affections. The daily
average strength was 445.30, against 368 42 in 1888. The death-rate of the
hospital was 203.95 per mille, against 215.94 in the previous year. The
decrease in the rate in 1889 is explained to have been due to a smaller number
of patients suffering from cholera having been treated in that year as compared
with 1888, and also to the fact that the type of this disease was comparatively
milder in those admitted in the year under report. It is also stated that cases
of dysentery were less fatal in 1889, the patients having apparently come
to hospital in the earlier stages of the disease than they generally do. The
death-rate of the hospital excluding cholera was 190.3 per mille, against 195.9
in 1888. Dr Mackenzie believes “the reason of this to be that the poor had
to seek admission into hospital earlier than they generally do in years of plenty,
and hence the diseases from which they suffered were not of such a chronic and
hopeless character as in previous years.”
91. Six Europeans were treated for small-pox. The number of Natives
who suffered from this disease was 55, against 17 in the previous year.
The number of deaths from small-pox was 23, against 4 in 1888. The increase
is said to have been caused by a larger number of patients having been treated in
1889 than in the previous year, and to the fact that while there were admitted
8 cases of confluent small-pox in 1888, with 3 deaths, there were 18 such cases
in the year under review with 13 deaths.
92. Two hundred and eighty-nine patients were treated for cholera,
against 312 in the previous year, the number of deaths being 167 and 191
r e s p e c t i v e l y . Be s i d e s t h e t o t a l n u mb e r o f p a t i e n t s t r e a t e d i n t h e Ca mp b e l l
Hospital in 1889, 31 patients are shown to have been admitted into the
hospital, under the head “No appreciable diseases.”
93. D r . M a c k e n z i e r e p o r t s t h a t t h e f o l l o w i n g i m p r o v e m e n t s w e r e d o n e i n t h e
hospital in the year under report :—“Two new latrines and a sanitas or depôt
w e r e b u i l t . A n e n g i n e w a s s u p p l i e d f o r t h e p u r p o s e o f f l u s h i n g t h e f l o o r s o f t h e
wards, the latrines, the dead-house and the dissecting-rooms of the institution.
Waterpipes were laid in the main ward of the hospital, with which to flush it.
Bath-rooms and washing basins were supplied to the main ward of the hospital.
The drainage of the compound of the institution, as well as that of the main
building of the hospital, was relaid and relevelled. The floor of the main
building of the hospital was dug up and relaid with sandstone flags and artificial
stone. The new ward for paying European patients commenced in 1888, was
finished and occupied in 1889. A new wall was built at the south-western
portion of the compound, where no wall existed before, through which constant
thefts of hospital property occurred in previous years. Portions of the road
of the compound were repaired.” No outdoor dispensary has been erected for
want of funds.
94.
Calcutta Police H ospital. —Surgeon-Major S. C. Mackenzie was in
charge of the hospital throughout the year.
95. The total number of patients treated during the year under report
was 2,432, against 2,735 in 1888. These figures are exclusive of the malin-
gerers, who numbered 34 in 1889 and 35 in 1888. In regard to the decrease
in the total number of patients treated in the year under review, the Super-
intendent says that the reason was that the constables of both Town
and Suburban sections were more healthy in that year than in the previous
y e a r . T h e d a i l y a v e r a g e s i c k w a s 1 0 1 . 9 1 , a g a i n s t 1 0 4 . 7 0 i n 1 8 8 8 . T h e r e w e r e