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HOSPITALS AND DISPENSARIES IN THE BENGAL PRESIDENCY. [Part III.
Attendance of out-
patients as a test of
success.
It is urged in the report of the Central Provinces, that the number of
out-door patients is the best gauge of the usefulness and popularity of a
dispensary, and in this opinion the Deputy Surgeon-General of the Sagar
Circle coincides ; "and" he adds, "the number of admissions or new cases is
a better test of the increase or decrease of popularity than the daily average
number of sick."
Doubtful accuracy of
some returns.
Accuracy of the
Punjab returns.
It is greatly to be regretted that the Inspectors-General of Dispensaries
of the North-Western and the Central Provinces have found cause to express
themselves as being very sceptical as to the accuracy and truthfulness of the
returns of these Provinces. These doubts are not, however, confirmed by any
observations contained in the inspection reports of the Deputy Surgeons-General,
whilst the Inspector-General of Punjab Dispensaries considers the returns of
his Province to be eminently reliable. Mr. Dallas' observations, which are to
the point, are as follows:—
It has, I believe, been stated that the statistics of our dispensaries are not reliable, because,
1st, every visit of a patient is dealt with as a separate patient, and so entered in the register;
and 2nd, that medicine is given to the relatives of a man who is far away from the dispen-
sary, for his use, and that such a man is entered in the dispensary returns as a patient
attending. In regard to the first allegation, it may be that such a thing has happened,
and I cannot take upon myself to say that it never in any case now happens, but this I do
say, that I examine registers of attendance specially in regard to this point, and I have not
for several years detected anything like such a practice; that I have especially warned
assistant surgeons and hospital assistants against it; and that my conversations with
civil surgeons on the matter lead me to believe that, if it ever does occur, its occurrence is
very rare indeed, and not in any degree of such frequency as to render the validity of the
statistics questionable. On the second charge, I have pretty much the same to say, except
that I must add this, that such a practice was detected some years ago in the case of the
Abbottábád dispensary; the civil surgeon had been in the habit of sending medicines to
persons who were sick at their homes, in Swát, Boneyr, and other places, a long way
beyond our border, and whose relatives had come to the dispensary to seek medicine and
advice for them, such patients being entered as attendants. The civil surgeon under whose
management this custom was followed, left; his successor brought it to notice, and it was at
once strongly condemned, and other civil surgeons warned against a similar practice, and I
do not think it has ever been allowed again. In short, I would, in regard to the returns,
say this, whilst I do not assert that our dispensary statistics are complete and accurate in
every figure, I do not hesitate to say that all that can be done to make them fairly reliable is
done, and that I believe they give a fairly reliable and accurate notion of what these institu-
tions are doing, and are every whit as trustworthy as any other returns of the kind.
Number treated in
proportion to
population.
In Statement No. III we have a view of the number of patients treated
in each dispensary, and the proportion of the total number treated in each
province to the population. The latter set of figures are only approximation,
but they give an interesting comparative idea of the amount of medical aid
accorded to each province. In Bengal the number of treated to population
varies from 38.82 in the Burdwan district to .16 in the Purneah district.
Of course, where dispensaries are situated along pilgrim routes, a great number
of those treated may have nothing to do with the province at all.
STATEMENT No. III,
PROVINCES.
Bengal
...
...
...
... ...
North-Western Provinces ... ... ... ...
Punjab ... ... ... ... ...
Central Provinces
...
...
... ...
Oudh ... ... ... ... ...
Rajputana ... ... ... ... ...
British Burmah ... ... ... ...
Hyderabad
...
...
...
...
...
Average number of
patients treated
in each dispen-
sary.
3,238
5,172
6,882
4,076
4,592
3,118
3,224
2,471
Proportion of the
number treated
to population.
.92
2.47
4.72
4.43
1.68
.98
1.81
2.71
Dispensaries classified
according to the
number of patients
treated in them.
In Statement No. IV the dispensaries are classified according to the
number of patients treated in them.