( 6 )
14. The number of admissions into the Police Hospital indicates some
improvement in the health of the force during the year. They amounted to
2,394 against 2,589 in 1881 and 2,625 in 1880, out of a total strength of 2,806.
The daily average number of sick was 83 against 98 and 107 in the two
previous years. Malarious fevers shewed a decrease from 1,061 to 860, and
there was also a slight decrease under dysentery, diarrhœa, and remittent
fever. There were three cases of modified small-pox, and 18 of cholera, of
which 7 proved fatal. The total number of deaths was 33 against 35, 30, and
36 in the three preceding years, and the death-rate per mille was 13.4, as com-
pared with 13.5 in 1881.
15. The aggregate numbers of patients treated in the Mayo Hospital and
dispensaries were as follows :—
In-patients
1882.
1881.
Total treated ...
...
2,125
2,125
. . . Daily average ...
. . .
82
97
O ut -patients
. . . Total treated ...
... 182,163
183,354
. . . Daily average
...
1,214
1,349
In-patients are treated only at the Mayo and Chandney Hospitals, where
they numbered 1,885 and 240 respectively. In both cases there was a decrease
in the daily average compared with the previous year, the numbers being 77
and 5.3 in 1882, against 91 and 5.8 in 1881. This falling off has not been
explained. In the Mayo Hospital there were 133 deaths from cholera out of
261 persons treated, or at the rate of 50.9 per cent. In the previous year the
corresponding figures had been 83, 160, and 51.8 respectively. In the
Chandney Dispensary there were only 18 cases of cholera against 36 in 1882.
These figures do not correspond with the known increased prevalence of cholera
in the town and suburbs, which caused more admissions and mortality in all
the Calcutta hospitals in 1882 than in the preceding year. The general rates
of mortality in the two institutions were 18.5 and 8.3 per cent. respectively.
In the Mayo Hospital the number of out-patients fell from 48,059 in
1881 to 43,012 in the year under review, the average daily attendance being
310 against 386. The explanation offered by the Superintendent is that the
system of giving more than one day's supply of medicines was more extensively
carried out during the year. The Surgeon-Goneral, however, correctly points
out that this will not explain the decrease in total numbers, and that it does
not go far towards explaining reduced average, as the average number of
times that each patient attended was less by only a small fraction than the
corresponding number of 1881. In the Chandney Dispensary the total
number of out-patients rose from 68,592 to 70,525, but the daily average
attendance is said to have been only 405 against 460. No explanation is
offered of this discrepancy. Dr. Simpson makes the following remarks concern-
ing the recorded figures of the practice of the Mayo Hospital and associated
dispensaries :—
The composition of these large figures shows that further enquiry is necessary before
they can be accepted. The proportional numbers of the several kinds of cases entered are
very unlike those which obtain elsewhere. The scarcity of cholera cases in the past year
has been noted ; of fever an enormous quantity is recorded, viz. 13,325 cases among out--
p a t i e n t s ; b u t o f s p l e e n d i s e a s e s , a l l i e d t o f e v e r a s i t s r e s u l t , o n l y 1 , 2 2 7 c a s e s . A t t h e M a y o
Hospital the corresponding figures are 4,993 and 2,454, at Sookea's Street 3,057 and 1,479,
at Chitpore 2,638 and 549, at the Medical College 6,065 and 1,187. In a total number
of 70,525 patients, there are at the Chandney Hospital no less than 7,126 cases of "worms"
returned, or 10.1 per cent. of the total. At the Mayo Hospital there were in all 43,012
out-patients with 404 cases of worms or 0.9 per cent. At Sookea's Street we have 15,688
patients with 571 cases of worms, at Chitpore 21,135 with 133, at the Medical College
31,537 with 361 cases, and at Howrah 11,012 cases include only 80 cases of worms. In the
provincial dispensaries the proportion of cases of worms to total number was 2.8 per cent.
These facts are certainly remarkable, and appear to throw some doubt on
the accuracy of the returns. The Surgeon-General's remarks will be brought
to the notice of the Governors of the Mayo Hospital, who will be requested to
institute an enquiry into the method of recording patients.
16. In the Howrah General Hospital the total number of patients treated
was 12,616 against 14,151 in the previous year. Of these, 3,970 were
Europeans and 8,646 natives. In-patients numbered 1,604, of whom 669