2
REPORT ON THE
homes in the interior. The fever figures are more vitiated by this habit than
those of any other disease, and though comparison of ordinary years in series,
one with another, may hold good, it is quite certain that, in any single year, a
large accession of fatal fever may occur without affecting the death records
of the town. Whether such accession did or did not take place in 1881 cannot,
therefore, be learnt from the aggregate numbers of the above table. Some indi
-cation may be obtained from separate scrutiny of death lists in those town sections
which are known to contain the largest proportions of fixed residents, and from
fever mortality among married women and children, who represent fixed
households. The evidence of the hospitals in 1881 is at variance with that of
the general town record, for although the entire number of fever cases treated
was considerably less than in 1880, chiefly from want of space in the Campbell
Hospital, the actual number of deaths was larger, and the death-rate consider
-ably higher, than in the preceding year. A true record of deaths caused in
the town would probably show no variance with the hospital figures. It is at
present probable that there was more fatal fever in Calcutta than before, but
nothing at all resembling its prevalence in the districts epidemically affected.
STATEMENT No. I.
Showing numbers treated in the Institutions.
Nu mb e r .
MEDICAL INSTITUTIONS.
1881.
1880.
TOTAL TREATED.
Died per
mille of
treated.
TOTAL TREATED.
Diet Per
mille of
treated.
In-door. Out-door. Total.
In-door. Out-door. Total.
1 Medical College Hospital
5,381
59,085
64,466 129.89
5,089
57,875
62,964 128.58
2 General Hospital
2.863
......
2,863 47.85
3,168
. . . . . .
3,168 32.19
3 Mayo Hospital and Dispensaries
2,125 183,354 185,479 153.87
2,130 180,257 182,387 143.19
4 Campbell Hospital
6,074
......
6,074 237.4
6,881
......
6,881 230.78
5 Municipal Police Hospital
2,681
......
2,681 13.05
2,723
......
2,723 11.01
Total Calcutta Hospitals
19,124 242,439 261,563 138.31
19,991
2 3 8 , 1 3 2
2 5 8 , 1 2 3
134.17
6 Howrah General Hospital
1,640
12,511
14,151 192.07
1,557
13,345
14,902 188.18
GRAND TOTAL
20,764 254,950 275,714 142.68
21,548 251,477 273,025 138.17
3. Numbers treated.—The entire number of house-patients fell from 21,548
in 1880 to 20,764 in 1881 The fall at the Campbell Hospital covers the entire
difference, and doubtless contributed to the rise at the Medical College. The
latter hospital shows a rise of 292; the General Hospital a fall of 305; the
Mayo Hospital no material difference; the Campbell Hospital a fall of 807; the
Police Hospital little change, and the Howrah Hospital a rise of 83.
4. The wards of the Medical College Hospital, being full at nearly all
times, do not afford in the numbers of their inmates any such fluctuations as
changes of public health would cause. The increment of 1881 fell solely on
the native patients, and was, no doubt, partly caused by the narrowed space of
the Campbell Hospital. This latter hospital was under extensive repairs during
a portion of the year, and its accommodation was lessened thereby. The
house-patients at Howrah, though more numerous than in 1880, were less so
than in 1879.
5. Of out-door patients there was a total addition of 3,473 to the numbers
of 1880. The Medical College showed an increase of 1,210; the Mayo Hospital
of 3,097, and the Howrah Hospital a decrease of 834. In 1880 the figures of the
College Hospital had shown a very large increase over those of the previous
year, which was ascribed to the opening of the new dispensary. I gave reasons
for doubting the sufficiency of this event to explain the whole of the increase.
The figures of 1881 strengthen the doubt. In 1880 the new dispensary had
been in operation for six months only. In 1881 it worked throughout the
more unhealthy year, yet the increase of the numbers was small. It is true
that in September 1881 the out-door treatment of well-to-do persons ceased
to be entered in the records, and some increase of legitimate practice is obscured
by this, but the quantity is insufficient to explain the smallness of increase