NationalLibraryOfScotland/medical-history-of-british-india huggingface dataset:
149
B.—PRIVATE HOSPITALS—contó.
District.
No.
6
7
District Hospital.
Brought forward ...
Imambara, Oomarkhadi,
by Aga Abdul Hussein,
for Moguls.
Tantanpura Street, Khoja
Hospital.
Nagdevi Street, General
Mahomedan Community.
Bhoiwada,Bhuleshwar, for
Marjadi Vaishnav Bun-
nia community.
Pinjrapol, for Marwaris...
Ghattri Sarang Street
Hospital, for Kokani
Sunnis.
Nizampara, Bapu Huzar
Street, Bhendi Bazaar,
for Kokani Sunnis.
Bapu Khote Street, for
Kattri Mahomedans.
Gol Pitha, Falkland Road,
for General Mabomedan
community.
Gharni Road Hospital, one
ward provided by Chu-
bildas Laloobhoy, for
Bhangsali Caste.
Charni Road, by Adamjee
Peerbhoy, for Borah
community,
Telugu
St. George's
...
...
Khetwadi Futtehali's Hos-
pital, for Borah Suliman
community.
Parel Road Parsee Hos-
pital.
Arthur Road Jain Hos-
pital.
Parel Road Jail Hospital
Port Trust Hospital
Connaught Road Hindu
Hospital
Connaught Road Khoja
Hospital.
Dharavi Borah commu-
nity.
Total
·· ·
P.
P.
P.
P.
P.
P.
P.
P.
P.
P.
P.
P.
P.
P.
P.
P.
P.
P.
P.
...
Admissions
772
No reti
30
No reti
6
8
No reti
See pag
2
3
No reti
75
18
54
No ret
D
See pag
No ret
74
331
15
76
2,538
Deaths.
448
urns.
18
urns.
2
5
irns.
e 120.
0
3
urns.
38
10
44
urns.
124
urns.
38
254
8
37
1,438
Sections.
...·..
......
Bhuleshwar,
Kharatalao and
Kumbarwada.
......
Fanaswadi, Gir-
gaum,Chaupati.
......
··««·«
.··..·
Death-
rate per
cent. of
cases.
...
6.0
62.5
ο·ο
100.0
50.6
55.5
44.4
57.3
50.
53.3
48.6
56.66
38
Note.—G stands for Government, and P tor Private.
150
The main features of the mortality are thoroughly dealt with in the individual
reports of the various hospitals.
The mortality amongst females is higher than that of males.
Parel Government House Hospital
Grant Road Hospital ...
Women.
... 71 per cent.
... 64.04 „
Men.
68.6 per cent.
58.47 „
Pregnancy has an undoubted unfavorable influence especially when the duration
is of more than three months.
In Parel Hospital there were
„ Pilot Bunder
„ Grant Road
Cases.
4
2
4
10
Aborted.
4
2
4
10
Died.
4
2
2
S
Recovered.
0
0
2
2
Percentage of mortality 80 per cent.
The largest number of deaths took place between the ages of 20 and 40 years.
corresponding with the number of attacks which are also largest during that period.
The percentage of mortality to attack is highest at the ages of 5 and 50, and is nearly
as high between the ages of 30 and 45.
The mortality is greatly affected by the state of the patient on admission. For
instance, the general mortality of the Parel Hospital was 64.5 per cent., but of cases
that survived 48 hours, 30.8 per cent. only died, shewing that the circumstances of
the patient's home surroundings were terribly against recovery. The position of the
enlarged glands, with reference to mortality, has also a bearing similar to that which has
to attacks, as seen by the following table of some of the more important hospitals :—
Hospital.
Private Hospital No. 9
Hindoo Hospital...
...
Position of bubo 38 in fatal (:ases.
Groin.
10
9
9
41
20
125
78
292
Axilla.
...
...
o
9
8
57
58
134
Neck.
10
4
1
5
7
13
7
47
No bubo.
6
4
7
...
...
9
26
152
2nd November.—Bubo enlarging and painful ; pulse 130 ; respiration 40 ;
temperature 102.2. No headache ; lung clear ; had one motion. Treatment same.
3rd November.—Temperature 101 ; pulse 132 ; respiration 33. A little better.
Medretine given every two hours and ext. carnis and rum every four hours.
4th November.—Temperature 102.2 ; pulse 144 ; respiration 40. Bubo sub-
siding ; right parotid gland appears tender ; medretine every four hours. Ext. carnis
and rum every four hours.
6th November.—Temperature 100 ; pulse 140 ; respiration 40. Lungs a little
congested.
8th November.—Temperature 99 ; pulse 128 ; respiration 36.
15th November.—No fever ; bubo suppurated ; pulse 112.
Recurrence.
2nd December.—Temperature 105 ; respiration 40 ; pulse 144. Very delirious
and starting in bed. Left parotid gland much swollen and very tender. Liq.
hyd. per m. xv. every two hours.
3rd December.—'Temperature 104 ; pulse 160 ; respiration 60.
4th December.—Temperature 104 ; respiration 140 ; pulse 102. Delirium less.
5th December.—Temperature 100 ; respiration 40 ; pulse 100. Delirium less.
6th December.—Doing well.
N.B.—Allibux Kadratally, age 50 (same house) suffered from bubo 30th
October-1896 ; died 3rd November 1896. Femoral bubo.
(Evidently a near relative [father ?] of the boy. From the name I infer
him to be the father.)
Chapter IV
LAND TRAFFIC INSPECTION.
(RAILWAY AND CAUSEWAYS).
Proposal to ex-
tend Railway
inspection.
Almost as soon as the plague broke out in Bombay, the alarm
spread all over India. In the first week of October, Calcutta telegraphed
to enquire if the Railway traffic was being inspected, and, in spite of the
belief of the authorities in Bombay that such an inspection would be of
little use, (based on the notion that plague patients could not travel at
all) the Municipal Commissioner considered it advisable to arrange a
scheme of inspection, which was in working order before the end of
the month. This was, however, entirely a Municipal affair confined
to Municipal limits and under the direction of the Municipal Health
Officer ; but many plague patients succeeded in escaping, only to die in
some distant place.
Finally on January 9th Government passed a Resolution calling
the attention of the Municipal Commissioner to the fact that four plague
deaths had taken place at Nasik between the 1st and 3rd of January,
and two cases at Abu—one on December 4th and the other on December
11th. It may safely be said that many hundreds of similar cases
must have escaped. There was no provision for inspecting the cause-
ways, and so, if a sick man wished to leave Bombay, he had only to walk
over the causeway and book from the station beyond Bandora. Even
when detected, plague patients trying to leave Bombay by train were nob
sent to hospital, but simply escorted back to their houses again by a
guard ; there was nothing to prevent their walking out over the Cause-
ways the same night.
On January 26th the Bombay Government, writing to the Govern-
ment of India, while saying that provision had been made for the exami-
nation of passengers, observed that "the legality of the action taken is
open to doubt, and as there is no legal provision for dealing with plague
cases in areas outside Municipal limits, i.e., outside the Municipality,
His Excellency the Governor proposed to extend section 434 of the
Bombay Municipal Act to all areas whether Municipal or not."
Notification of
February 11th.
In an Extraordinary Government Gazette dated February 11th, the
following rules framed under the Epidemic Diseases Act were issued :—
1. Every train coming from the direction of Bombay to any of the
stations to which these rules may be declared by Government to be
applicable shall be stopped at such station and shall not be taken further
38
154
until the inspection provided by these rules has been carried out, and
until the guard in charge of such train has obtained a certifi-
cate from the Chief Medical Officer in charge of the inspecting staff to
the effect that all persons proceeding further by the said train, whether
railway servants or passengers, are free from bubonic plague.
2. Every such train shall be emptied for inspection of the passen-
gers in such manner as the Chief Medical Officer on duty may direct,
and all such facilities shall be afforded by the servants of the Railway
Company as the Chief Medical Officer on duty may consider to be neces-
sary for the purpose of inspecting—
(a) Persons who have come by such train, whether they intend
to proceed by it or not, and
(b) Persons who intend to start from any of the said stations and
travel by such train.
In particular the doors of all railway carriages shall be locked at
the station at which the train last stops before arrival at the station
appointed for the inspection of passengers by these rules.
3. The Governor in Council may appoint any person or persons by
name or by virtue of office to be the Inspecting Medical Officer or
Officers for the purpose of these rules and may cancel any such ap-
pointment.
4. Inspecting Medical Officers appointed under these rules are
empowered to examine all persons arriving by, or intending to leave by,
the trains mentioned, and to detain persons suffering, or suspected by
them to be suffering, from bubonic plague in such places as may be
appointed for the accommodation of such persons respectively.
5. The Police shall act under the orders of the Chief Medical
Officer on duty under these rules with regard to compelling persons to
submit to such regulations as may be made or approved by the said
officer for the purpose of inspection, and with regard to the detention and
segregation of persons suffering, or suspected by them to be suffering
from bubonic plague.
6. Disobedience to any orders issued under the above rules
Nos. 1, 2, 4 and 5 will subject the offender to a prosecution under section
188 of the Indian Penal Code.
Inward Traf-
fic Inspection.
The management of the inspection inaugurated by these rules was
given to Surgeon-Major Street, D.S.O., I.M.S.
B. I. S. N. 6 993
B. S. N.
128,447
G. I. P. 144,185
B.B.& C.J. 98,241
377,866
It was estimated that at the end of February no less than 377,866
persons had left Bombay. But with the fall in the death-rate, which
showed signs of declining by the end of February, and probably also
owing to the exhaustion of the scanty resources of the fugitives, the tide
soon began to set the other way. The next urgent need was, therefore,
to prevent the re-importation of the epidemic from the mofussii into the
City.
155
Causeways.
Early in February Dr. Britto called the attention of the Health.
Officer to the fact that two plague cases had been brought in over the
Sion Causeway and urged the necessity for inspection. The Collector
of Thana had been watching the further end of the Sion Causeway
since the beginning of February to prevent the importation of the
plague from the City, but no arrangements had been attempted on the
Bombay side. This was, therefore, one of the first points to which the
Committee directed their attention. The first suggestion was that the
Commissioner of Police should be asked to make arrangements for
stopping suspicious cases ; he pointed out, however, that to put this
important duty in the hands of the Police alone might lead to serious
irregularities, and moreover suggested that it was impossible for a
policeman to decide if any particular case of sickness was a plague case
or not.
Surgeon-Major Kirtikar, who had already reported that many
persons were entering Bombay by sea from Kalyan and Bhiwandi,
proposed that all night traffic over the causeways should be stopped
and the Sion Causeway watched. Finally on March 11th the Plague
Committee decided that Surgeon-Captain Jennings, in charge of No. 10
District, should be given an increased staff and should be put in charge
of this work, and both causeways were placed under his control.
There are five ways by which people can enter Bombay Island on foot :
1. The Bandora or Mahim Causeway.
2. The Coorla or Sion Causeway.
3. The G. I. P. Railway Causeway.
4. The B. B. and C. I. Railway Causeway.
5. A tract of land lying between Coorla on the mainland and
the village of Sion on the Island of Bombay. This is
sometimes flooded, but is generally fordable.
6. A small railway line running along a bund beside the
Tansa main water pipe from Chimbur on the mainland
to Sion.
These extend over a space of no less than five miles, and, as it
would have been impossible to hold examinations at all these points
without a very large staff, all the entrances were closed with the excep-
tion of 1 and 2. A police guard was posted to prevent the public
crossing by the railway causeways on foot ; the ford was watched by a
military guard, who turned back all the people who tried to go by that
way and made them go by the Sion Causeway ; and the line over the
water-main pipe was closed by keeping the swinging bridge always open.
System.
The inspection actually began on March 24th. The Causeways
were closed from 7 p.m. to 6 a.m. by a military guard to all except
those who had obtained a special pass. On April 21st, 8 p.m. was fixed
as the hour for closing the Causeways ; and finally on June 6th, the Sion
156
Causeway was opened an hour earlier to suit the convenience of the
market-gardeners who have to bring their produce to the Bombay market
at an early hour.
Mahim.
On the Mahim Causeway the inspection was at first held on the
Bombay side. Before the monsoon it was removed to the Bandora side.
The staff consisted of two medical officers, assisted by the Mahim Sub-
divisional officer, and nine police sepoys. As long as there was a
hospital on the spot, the nurses used to do the work of examining the
females. Since the hospital has been closed, Mrs. Saunders has been
engaged for that work.
Sion.
The examination of the Sion Causeway was held at the Sion end.
The staff consisted of two medical officers, and two medical students.
Since the abolition of the hospital there, a lady doctor, Mrs. Beale, has
been engaged for the examination of females.
The number of cases detected was as under :—
Suspicious cases ...
Plague cases ... ...
MAHIM.
... 36
....
13
SION.
16
11
The management of the two causeways was given to Surgeon-
Captain Jennings, as the causeways were situated in his district.
Railway
In-
spection.
The Railway Companies were first approached on the subject of
railway traffic inspection and at once expressed their readiness to help
the Committee in any way. The difficulty to be got over was how to
examine 40 trains a day on each line without causing delay and
obstruction of traffic. On the B. B. & C. I. line the greater numbers
of the trains are for the local traffic between Bandora and Colaba ;
on the G. I. P., on the other hand, there is a great deal of through
traffic, though there are many short-distance trains which do not
go beyond Kalyan. To examine all the trains at one station was
of course impossible without an enormous staff. Arrangements were
accordingly made to separate the examination of the through traffic from
the local. The former—that is to say, all trains coming from
Jubbulpore, Nagpur, Poona, and Raichur were examined at Kalyan, and
henceforth ceased to call at any of the intermediate stations between
Kalyan and Bombay, except, at Tirana. The people who entrained at
Thana were exarnined as they went on to the platform ; thus the double
examination of passengers was avoided ; the local traffic was examined
at Coorla.
B. B. & C. L
A similar arrangement was made on the Bombay, Baroda & Central
India Line ; passengers by the Mail train were examined at Palghar ;
passengers by all other trains were examined at Santa Cruz ; and local
passengers entering trains at Santa Cruz and Bandora were inspected as
they went on to the platform. The establishment of the system in the
short time in which it was established would have been impossible
without the hearty co-operation of the Railway Companies, who from
first to last met the Committee half-way in every proposal.
157
First-class passengers were examined in their carriages as a rule ;
second and third class carriages were emptied of their occupants, and
the passengers were examined on the platform, while the carriages were
searched by the police for concealed cases. Purdah women were not
forced to get out of the carriage, or to submit to examination if they had
any objection, but their names and addresses were taken.
Holders of season tickets and free passes were exempted from
examination, and persons found suffering from plague who preferred to
go their own caste hospital were allowed to do so ; arrangements were
made to prevent their escaping on the way by the Medical Officer of
the district.
When a suspicious case was found, it was removed to a shed for
a more searching examination ; if the person was then found to be free
from plague he was allowed to proceed by the next train, or sent to
hospital if sick.
Until the guard of the train had received a certificate from the Chief
Medical Officer at the station that the train was free from plague, he was
not allowed to proceed.
The following are the details of the inspection at the different
stations as reported by Surgeon-Captain Jennings :—
Kalyan.
The inspection began on the 12th February. When the inspection
of inward traffic under the direction of the Plague Committee was started
in the last week of April, an additional staff of one Medical Practitioner
and two Assistant Surgeons were engaged. For the reception of passen-
gers detained either for observation or treatment as plague cases, a camp
hospital was constructed, containing two observation wards and seven
plague wards. Other sheds accommodated the hospital assistant on duty,
the stores and dispensary, servants, police, relations of the patients, and a
kitchen. In all 740 persons were detained for observation ; of these, 172
proved to be cases of plague, 93 of which ended fatally, 79 recovered.
Palghar.
Inspection began on the 12th February. The staff consisted of one
Commissioned Medical Officer, two Assistant-Surgeons, (one of these
was added when inspection of inward traffic began) and six Hospital
Assistants. There was a camp hospital consisting of one observation
ward and six plague wards, with the usual quarters. Up to the 18th of
April four mail trains were examined every day, and since that date
five. Up to the 4th of July, 192 cases were detained for observation, of
which 45 proved to be cases of plague, 24 of which died, 19 recovering
and 2 remaining under treatment at the date of writing.
Coorla.
At Coorla 34 trains were examined daily. Inspection began on April
17th ; 126 cases were detained for observation, out of which number 34
were sent into hospital in Bombay as either plague cases or sufficiently
suspicious to be treated as such. As they were sent to different hospitals,
it is not known how many of these turned out to be genuine plague cases.
40
158
Sion.
On the approach of the monsoon, the Coorla staff was transferred to
Sion on June 5th, and a large shed erected on the platform for inspec-
tion purposes, and two Medical Practitioners were added to the staff, who
also took part in the causeway inspection. Since the 5th June, 14 cases
have been sent to hospital.
Santa Cruz.
At Santa Cruz inspection began on April 17th, and 15 trains were
examined daily, and 36 cases were detected and sent to the Khar hospital.
Bandora.
On June 5th, the Staff here was amalgamated with the barrier in
spection of persons entraining at Bandora station. Fourteen cases have
been sent into hospital since the 5th June. Patients were sent by train
to Mahaluxmi Station for Arthur Road.
Barrier In-
spection.
The barrier inspections, which were begun on April 16th to prevent
the local plague cases entering the stations, are still, at the date of
writing, in force.
In all, this gives a total of 281 actual plague cases detected on the
railway, and inoluding the 34 cases sent to hospital from Coorla, most of
which were presumably plague cases, 315. Since the beginning of
June the whole arrangements have been under the management of
Surgeon-Captain Jennings.
Hospitals.
To receive any cases of plague which might be detected at any of
the stations, temporary hospitals were constructed at Kalyan, Palghar,
Thana, and Santa Cruz. Cases detected at Coorla, or at either of the
causeways, were sent to the hospitals at Government House, Parel, and
Mahim. Cases found at Bandora were taken to the hospital jointly
erected there by the Bombay and Bandora Municipality.
Establishment.
The establishment engaged for the examination at the various
stations was as follows :—
KALYAN.
8 Commissioned Medical Officers.
1 Parsi Medical Practitioner.
2 Assistant Surgeons.
11 Hospital Assistants.
PALGHAR.
1 Commissioned Medical Officer.
2 Assistant Surgeons.
6 Hospital Assistants.
SANTA CRUZ.
2 Medical Officers.
3 Assistant Surgeons.
3 Hospital Assistants.
3 Hospital Students.
BANDORA.
3 Assistant Surgeons.
COORLA.
2 Modical Officers.
3 Assistant Surgeons.
3 Hospital Assistants.
THANA.
1 Medical Officer.
1 Assistant Surgeon.
2 Medical Students.
159
The Government Eesolution legalising the examination of inward
railway traffic was published on April 13th, and ran as follows :—
" The Bombay Plague Committee are hereby empowered to
appoint Medical men as Plague Authorities at railway stations in the
Than a District for the purposes of these rules. Such Plague Autho-
\ities shall have authority to inspect railway passengers, intending rail-
way passengers, and other persons found in railway trains or at the
railway stations to which these rules are or may hereafter be applied,
and to detain and send to hospitals or other places appointed for the
purpose persons found or believed to be suffering from the Plague.
These rules are hereby made applicable to the railway stations of
Kalyan, Thana, and Coorla on the G. I. P. Railway, and Palghar, Santa
Cruz, and Bandora on the Bombay, Baroda & Central India Railway.
The Medical Staff appointed by Government at the stations of Kalyan
and Palghar for the purposes of the inspection referred to in Govern-
ment Resolution No. 723—211-P, dated February 10th, 1897, shall be
considered Plague Authorities for the purposes of these rules. On the
Great Indian Peninsula Railway persons travelling by up through trains
shall be medically examined at Kalyan, and no further medical
inspection of such trains will be requisite ; but no passengers shall
be allowed to enter such trains at any stations between the stations
of Kalyan and Coorla, except at Thana. All local up-trains shall
be emptied and their passengers medically inspected at Coorla, but
rio passengers shall be allowed to book from Coorla till they have
been medically inspected. On the Bombay, Baroda & Central India Line
up-trains starting from stations north of Bandora shall be stopped for
medical inspection of their passengers at Santa Cruz, except in the
case of the up-mail train, the passengers by which shall be inspected
at Palghar. No persons, shall be allowed to book at Bandora Station
by up-trains until they have been medically inspected. Season ticket-
holders and free pass-holders will ordinarily be excused from inspection,
but the Plague Authorities may inspect them on any occasion on which
they consider it advisable to do so. The Plague Authorities under
these rules shall be placed under the immediate orders of Surgeon-
Captain Jennings, I.M.S., who is authorized to make all the necessary
arrangements and to commence inspection under these rules as soon as
his arrangements are completed."