2
REPORT ON THE
need of far greater activity on the part of those whose duty it is to protect
the people.
4. All through the record in 1884 there was an augmentation in the number
of deaths, save under the heading “Diarrhœa and dysentery.” both of which
diseases shewed a diminution in the number of fatal cases registered.
The fatality of these diseases, cholera or no cholera, has steadily lessened
of late years, the number of deaths having declined in the decennial period,
when it stood in the year 1875 at 1,579 to 1,209 in 1884, the lowest figure
ever reached.
5. During the year ending the 31st December 1884, 13,256 deaths were
registered in Calcutta. The annual rate of mortality, which in the preceding
five years averaged 29.24 per 1,000, increased last year to 30.5. The lowest
rate reached in the ten-year period was.27 . 1, viz. in 1880. The deaths
referred to the principal zymotic diseases, greatly increased, with the excep-
tions noted. Of other diseases of this class the precise figures are not apparent
in the return, whooping cough, measles, &c., having been lumped up with
“ O t h e r c a u s e s . ”
6. The deaths from cholera largely increased. With the exception
of the year 1876, in the first half of the ten-year period, the
mortality from this disease had gradually receded till 1880, when
the fall was very remarkable, only 805 deaths having occurred—the
lowest number registered. From that time, however, the disease has exhibited
renewed activity, and with the exception of a slight fall in its fatality in 1883,
the deaths rose to the large number of 2,272 in 1884, or the highest
in the decade. This enormous rise in the figures in the past year implies that
a vast number of persons were seized with the disease in this city. It has been
stated in former reports that the mortuary returns of the Health Officer of
Calcutta are no criterion of the actual death-rate, because natives who do not
speedily recover or die betake themselves to their homes in the interior, or
any way, outside municipal limits. This may be true as regards those suffer-
ing from lingering illnesses, but it is not so with cholera A person attacked
by this disease, as a rule, has neither the time, the inclination, nor the power
to get away; moreover, were it possible to make for home in the interior,
I fear such a person would find very few indeed willing to lend a helping
hand. I am therefore inclined to accept the Health Officer’s figures in this
direction, as furnishing a fairly accurate measure of the actual mortality which
took place.
7. Small-pox caused 478 deaths, or an increase of 405 over the number
recorded in 1883. The mortality from this zymotic disease, which had declined
from 1,495, the total deaths registered in the epidemic year of 1878, to a mini-
mum of 17 in 1882,-the lowest number reached,-rose first to 73 in 1883, arriv-
ing at its climax of 478 in 1884. Notwithstanding that vaccination was made
compulsory by law in 1880, this large mortality indicates that a very severe
epidemic of small-pox raged in the city in the year under report, and that an
alarming number of unprotected persons must have been attacked by the disease.
STATEMENT No. I.
Showing numbers treated in the institutions.
MEDICAL INSTITUTIONS.
1884.
1883.
TOTAL TREATED.
Died
per mille
of treated.
TOTAL TRE A TED.
Died
per mille
of treated.
Indoor.
Outdoor.
Total.
Indoor.
Outdoor.
Total.
Medical College Hospital ...
...
5,522
44,562
50,084
126.1*
5,541
51,022
56,563
1 1 2 . 0 8 *
General Hospital
...
...
...
3,073
. . . . . .
3,073
40.35
3,121
......
3,121
47.7
Mayo Hospital and Dispensaries ...
2,451
181,274
183,725
159.52
2,212
176,619
178,831
164.5
Campbell Hospital
. .
. . .
. . .
6,525
......
6,525
236.01
5,499
......
5,499
234.04
Municipal Police Hospital ...
...
2,221
......
2,221
10.8
2,377
......
2,377
11'7
Total Calcutta Hospitals
..
19.792
225,836
245,628
140.6
18,750
227,64
246,391
131.13
Howrah General Hospital ..
...
1,568
9,849
11,417
222.57
1,631
11,696
13,327
200.4
GRAND TOTAL
...
21,360
235,685
257,045
146.7
20,381
239,337
259,718
136.83
* Reckoned on the cases treated, exclusive of ophthalmic cases.