20
REPORT ON THE
Superintendent says that since March 1883 he made special arrangements
with regard to the supply of milk, butter, and drinking water. The
cows are now kept in the compound and milked under immediate European
supervision, butter comes from Italy or Australia, and it is purchased in tins
from Messrs. Mackenzie, Lyall and Company.
101. There are a few new works required. Dr. Birch says :—“We greatly
need a large portico at the entrance of the centre building to protect persons
brought for admission, carriages, &c., and to improve upon the barn-like ap--
pearance of the front of the hospital. I have on several occasions urged the
demolition of the row of servants' houses in front of the medical officers' quar--
ters and the erection of suitable out-offices behind the quarters, to the east and
west. As things are, the place is unsightly and frequently objectionable. The en--
trance to the eastern building is dungeon-like, dark, paltry, and depressing. Plans
and estimates were prepared with a view to remedying this defect, but nothing
has been done as yet. The bridge at the entrance requires to be made double
its present width now that the building to the east of it has been demolished.
Our conservancy depôt is apparently about to tumble down, and its condition
has been represented to the Department, Public Works. Large sky-lights are
to be constructed over the staircases of the eastern and western building. This
work has been sanctioned, but it is now so near the end of the year that pro--
bably nothing will be done.”
102. Establishment.— The establishment as revised in 1881 is reported to
have worked efficiently. An increase of one female attendant in the female
ward was sanctioned by Government in May 1884. There has been no other
change.
CAMPBELL HOSPITAL.
103. Surgeon-Major S. C. Mackenzie, M.D., was in charge of the hospital
throughout the year.
104. The number of admissions into the hospital was 6,202 against 5,132
in 1883, shewing an increase of 1,070 patients. The daily average number
of patients treated was 360 against 339 in 1883. The principal diseases
which contributed admissions to the hospital were malarious fever, diarrhœa,
dysentery, ulcers, splenic affections, phthisis pulmonalis, and pneumonia. For
small-pox 25 Europeans and 226 natives were treated against 11 and 92 in
1883. Of the 25 cases of Europeans, 17 were from Calcutta and its suburbs,
and 7 from the port. Of the 226 cases of natives, 155 were from Cal-
cutta and its suburbs and 29 from the port. There were three deaths in 25
cases of Europeans and 82 in 226 cases of natives. There were treated 236
cases of cholera against 188 and 186 in 1883 and 1882, and the number of
deaths was 161, 127, and 134, respectively. The total number of deaths
was 1,540 to compare with 1,287 in 1883, or greater by 253, and the percen-
tage on the total treated was 23.6 against 23.4 in 1883.
105. The true death-rate of the hospital per 1,000, excluding cholera and
moribund cases, was 189.9 against 191 and 204 in 1883 and 1882. Moribund
cases, excluding cholera, numbered 241 against 192 in 1883.
106. One hundred and sixty-eight cases of major operations were treated
during the year, of which 159 were new. The number of minor operations
performed was 259 against 307 in 1883. The death-rate was 7.14 per cent.
of the major operations against 5.6 in 1883, shewing an increase of 1.54 per
cent. The reason of this increase was that three cases were admitted in a
low condition after a severe railway accident on the Eastern Bengal State
Railway in October 1884, and two died from shock and one from exhaustion
shortly after the operations had been performed. If these three cases are
deducted, the mortality from the major operations would be 5.45, or 15 per
cent. less than in 1883. There was no death among the patients who had
minor operations performed on them. There were 15 obstetric cases treated in
the hospital against 18 in 1883, with 1 death. The patient was brought
to hospital in the collapsed stage of cholera, she was pregnant, and had a
miscarriage. She died from cholera, and not from the confinement.