2
Statement No. I deals with the admissions, discharges, etc., of the
lunatics in the seven Asylums of the Presidency. On the 1st January 1907
there were 956 lunatics under treatment, of whom 742 were males and 214
females. There were 351 admissions during the year, 286 males and 65 females,
including 23 re-admissions (18 males and 5 females). The Poona Lunatic
Asylum accounted for an increase of 11 and Ahmedabad of 5 in the number of
admissions, whereas the Asylums at Naupáda, Hyderabad, Ratnágiri and Colaba
show a decrease of 27, 20, 6 and 4, respectively, over the previous year. The
total population of the Asylums was thus 1,307 (1,028 males and 279 females) as
compared with 1,287 (1,016 males and 271 females) in 1906. The daily average
strength was 741.7 males and 213.8 females—total 955.5 against 927.6 (715.7
males and 211.9 females) in the previous year.
It may here be noticed that the daily average strength of the male popu-
lation at the Naupáda, Poona, Dhárwár and Ahmedabad Asylums is in excess of
the accommodation available, while the number of female insanes shows a.
steadily increasing tendency in the same direction. At one time the male
division at Dhárwár was so very overcrowded that it necessitated the transfer of
2 lunatics to Poona where they were accommodated with difficulty. In his
Annual Report the Superintendent of the Narotamdas Madhavdas Lunatic
Asylum, Naupáda (Thána), remarks:—"The Asylum provides accommodation
for 198 males and 42 females at 140 superficial feet per paying patient and 80
per pauper. But, owing to the excess of non-paying males and females, the
floor space was reduced to 76.1 superficial feet for pauper males and 49.1 for
pauper females. The total number of female lunatics admitted exceeded the
sanctioned accommodation by 23 (17 paupers and 6 criminals), and that of male
criminals by 14.''
The total number discharged was 281, of whom 234 were males and 47
females; 47 males and 20 females died, leaving 959 under treatment at the end
of the year. Of those discharged, 117 males and 23 females are returned as
cured against 90 males and 24 females in 1906; 68 males and 18 females are
shown as transferred to friends in an improved condition as compared with 50
males and 12 females; and 39 males and 6 females similarly disposed of are
returned as not improved against 73 males and 5 females in the previous year.
Of the 10 males discharged otherwise, 2 were transferred to Civil Hospitals for
treatment and 3 to other Asylums, 3 escaped, 1 was sent for trial and 1 removed
from the criminal to the non-criminal list. The percentage of cures to the daily
average strength was 14.7 and to the admissions during the year 39.9, as
compared with 12.3 and 29.1 respectively in the previous year.
The daily average sick was 17.0 males and 7.2 females, total 24.2 against
26.1 (19.7 males and 6.4 females) in 1906. The general health of the insanes
was, on the whole, satisfactory. There was no epidemic disease, except that at
Ratnágiri there was an outbreak of dysentery in the months of September, Octo-
ber and November 1907, during which there were 14 cases of this disease with
5 deaths, chiefly among the older inmates. The Superintendent of the Asylum
reports " An effort was made to check the disease by boiling the water and pay-
ing special attention to the food, but cases continued to occur in spite of these
precautions."
The total number of deaths was 67 as compared with 61 in 1906. The
mortality was chiefly due to dysentry 14, tubercle of lungs 13, diarrhœa 8, and
debility 7. The ratio per cent. of deaths to the daily average strength was 7.0,
and to the total admissions 19.1, the corresponding ratios for the previous year
being 6.6 and 15.7. At Poona the number of deaths rose from 10 in 1906 to 17
in 1907. Of these, 2 occurred within 1 month, 3 within 3 months, and 1 within
6 months, of their admission into the Asylum. Of the 7 deaths which occurred
in the Ratnágiri Asylum, 5, as above stated, were due to dysentry.
Statement No. II is a return of criminal Lunatics. On 1st January 1907
there were 137 such confined in the Asylums, 38 were admitted and 4 re-
admitted during the year, making a total of 179, as compared with 189 of the
previous year. The daily average strength was 138.6 against 132.5 in 1906.
Statement No. III gives the religion, sex and residence of the lunatics admit-
ted during the year. Hindus contributed 168 to the total admissions, Mahomedans