No. 2130.
FROM
COLONEL T. E. L. BATE, C.I.E., I.M.S.,
Inspector-General of Civil Hospitals, Punjab.
To
A. B. KETTLEWELL, ESQUIRE, I.C.S.,
Secretary to Government, Punjab, Lahore,
Dated 31st March 1906.
SIR,
I HAVE the honour to forward the Report of the Superintendent, Punjab
Lunatic Asylum, for the triennium 1903—1905, and to furnish the following
remarks on the important points therein.
2. By removing the female patients from the main enclosure a great and
very necessary improvement was effected. And although the area of the annexe
in which they are now segregated is somewhat limited, it serves its purpose well ;
moreover, I doubt whether it could have been made appreciably larger owing to
the configuration of the site. The separation of European and Indian patients
from each other is desirable, and I think the expedient suggested by the Superin-
tendent could be carried out with advantage.
At my suggestion tents were used towards the end of last year to shelter
patients in excess of the capacity of the buildings. The arrangement has proved
satisfactory; and, so far as experience shows at present, it can be safely adopted
in future to relieve pressure on the accommodation.
3. I agree with Captain Milne that it is in every way desirable criminal
lunatics should be confined in a separate asylum; and no doubt provision will
be made in due course to meet this requirement. But the extension of the asylum
is a more pressing need, claiming precedence of other projects.
4. Regarding what is said about there being a growing tendency to
malingering among criminals, I may note that injunctions to Superintendents
of Jails, to transfer prisoners exhibiting signs of insanity to the lunatic asylum,
may account for the increase in the number of criminal lunatics admitted during
the post three years. So far as I am aware, there is no reason to think that
there has been a change in this respect; nor are there grounds for supposing that
Superintendents of Jails are not fully alive to their responsibilities in dealing
with cases of the kind.
5. I will premise my remarks on the sickness and mortality by noting
that a main feature, and certainly not the least pleasing, of the management is
the arrangement for the care of the female patients by the Sisters of the Order
of Franciscans, who exhibit a devotion to the welfare of their unfortunate charges
that is beyond all praise. The total death-rate rose from 7.64 in 1903 and 7.22
in 1904 to 9.38 last year, the increase being ascribed by Captain Milne to excep-
tional climatic conditions and to deaths among patients shortly after admission.
It will be hardly necessary to say that it is extremely difficult to protect insane
patients, who absolutely refuse to wear clothing, against cold such as prevailed
in January and February of last year; and presumably the heavy mortality
caused by pneumonia was in some measure due to this factor. In all probability,
a definite reduction could be made in the incidence of tubercle of the lungs by
providing a special hospital for the treatment of cases of that disease, as suggested
by Captain Milne.
It is satisfactory to note that there were no deaths by suicide during the
triennium and that violent assaults by the patients were comparatively few in
number.