18
PATNA LUNATIC ASYLUM.
[Part I.
Restraint.
Mechanical restraint was not employed at all during the year, and solitary
confinement but sparingly.
Establishment.
The permanent establishment of keepers was raised from 20 to 22.
Finances.
The total expenditure was Rs. 22,336. The cost per man was Rs. 91-8-7
against Rs. 87-7-3 in 1872, the increase being on account of additional
establishment. The cost of dieting each man was Rs. 46-12-8 against
Rs.39-9-2, the increase being due to the higher prices of meat and fish, and
to the fact that milk, vegetables and oil, which were formerly issued gratis by
Government, were supplied by contract. The actual cash profit derived from
manufactures was Rs. 2,163, but the estimated value of the patients' labour
was no less than Rs. 6,833.
Inspection.
Deputy Surgeon-General D. Macdonald, M D., in forwarding the report,
testifies to the urgent necessity for increased accommodation, and he concurs
with the Superintendent in attributing the high mortality from chest complaints
to the vitiated air developed by overcrowding.
Patna.
PATNA ASYLUM.
Charge.
Surgeon-Major B. Simpson was the Superintendent throughout the year.
STATEMENT No. XV.
YEAR.
1868 ... ...
1869 ... ...
1870 ... ...
1871 ... ...
1872
...
...
Average ...
1873
...
...
Daily average
strength.
162
161
183
211
234
190.2
268.8
PER CENT. OF AVERAGE STRENGTH.
Admitted.
64.2
65.8
54.1
40.8
52.9
55.6
46.9
DISCHARGED.
Cured.
47.5
41.6
21.8
27.5
23.1
32.7
24.2
Improved.
3.7
11.1
1.1
1.4
2.1
3.9
2.1
Otherwise.
1.8
1.2
......
.5
1.7
1.04
2.6
Deaths.
3.7
13.6
9.8
5.7
6.8
7.9
10.05
Total dis-
charges
and deaths.
56.7
67.5
32.7
35.1
33.7
45.1
39.06
Statistics.
The population of the asylum is rapidly increasing. The admissions
numbered 126. The recoveries and discharges were absolutely above the
average, but in proportion to population, below the results of past years.
Deaths numbered 27 against 16 last year, being a mortality of 10.05 per
cent. of strength, being a comparatively high rate for this asylum, the average
of the previous 10 years having been 16.1.
Causes of mortality.
The mortality was chiefly due to fever, diarrhœa, dysentery, and debility,
and is attributed to the feeble sickly condition in which the patients were
admitted.
Increased accommo-
dation necessary.
The Superintendent writes as follows concerning the necessity for increased
accommodation:—
The steadily increasing population of this asylum induces me again to call attention to
the absolute necessity of providing more accommodation for the insane, either here or elsewhere,
so as to relieve the overcrowding. This asylum was originally intended for 79 patients, 49
males and 20 females, and criminals 10—that is to say, that it contains that number of cells ;
a sleeping shed has since been built large enough to contain 30 or 40, but the majority have to
sleep in a damp open verandah. The asylum has been for the last three years wonderfully free
from epidemics; but were cholera to visit us, which is always to be apprehended in a district
like Patna, where it is endemic, the consequences might be serious. I trust, therefore, either
that additional accommodation may be soon provided, or that the scheme originally suggested
of removing all dangerous lunatics to another asylum may be carried out as soon as possible.
In my report of last year I called attention to the large number of admissions into the asylum
during 1872 as compared with former years. The admissions into the Patna asylum during the
past year exceed those of any other year of its history. 1 am inclined to attribute this partly
to the very trying hot season we have passed through.
Criminal lunatics.
The daily average strength of criminal lunatics was 43.5, or 16.2 per cent.
of the population, being an increase of only one. Dr. Simpson urges the
propriety of transferring recovered criminal lunatics to jails, as being a more
suitable habitation for them than the asylum.