No. 3446½.
FROM COLONEL R. MACRAE, M.B., I.M.S.,
Inspector-General of Civil Hospitals, Bengal.
To THE SECRETARY TO THE GOVERNMENT OF BENGAL,
MUNICIPAL DEPARTMENT.
Dated Calcutta, the 20th March 1908.
SIR,
I HAVE the honour to submit the Annual Statistical Returns
of the Lunatic Asylums in Bengal for the year 1907 with brief notes as
follows:—
Statement I.
2. On the 1st January 1907 there were under confinement in the
asylums 836 lunatics, the numbers admitted and
re-admitted during the year were 196, while 104
were discharged and 76 died, leaving 852 lunatics under detention at the end
of the year against 836 in 1906. Of these two totals criminal lunatics consti-
tuted 47.30 and 47.96 per cent., respectively.
3. The accommodation provided for lunatics at Patna and Berhampore
was sufficient. There was temporary overcrowding at Bhawanipur in 1907
in the section allotted for pauper patients, which was relieved by the transfer
of 15 lunatics to Berhampore. The capacity of the Patna Asylum has been
greatly improved by the conversion during the year of one of the work-sheds
into an excellent sleeping barrack.
Admissions numbered 181, or 7 less than in 1906. There was a further
falling off in the numbers sent to the Berhampore Asylum from Calcutta and
the 24-Parganas, the figures having been 56 against 71 in 1906. In previous
years these two districts supplied the largest number of lunatics to the
Dullunda Asylum, but since its closure the numbers sent to the Asylum have
steadily dropped, a result which was anticipated from the distance of Berham-
pore from Calcutta and its neighbourhood.
Fifteen lunatics were re-admitted against 23 in 1906. At Berhampore
there was a decrease of 9, as the result of action taken by the Magistrate who,
instead of returning to the asylum after trial, criminal lunatics who were
harmless and charged with trivial offences, made most of them over to their
friends, the Superintendent certifying in each case that it was safe to do so.
Of the non-criminal lunatics 6 were re-admitted at Bhawanipur after long
intervals and 1 at Patna relapsed after 12 days only.
The number discharged from the asylums was fewer, being 104 against
133 in 1906. The decrease is attributable to the survival of a large number
of chronic cases at Berhampore who will never be fit for discharge. The total
number discharged cured fell off mainly for this reason from 89 in 1906 to 69
in 1907, the percentage of recoveries on daily average strength being 10.76
and 8.12, respectively. This result still compares favourably with the recovery
rate in English asylums where it was 8.31 in 1906 after excluding the statistics
of the Idiot Establishments.
Sickness and mortality.—The total number of admissions to hospitals fell
from 850 in 1906 to 555 in 1907, the largest reduction taking place at Berham-
pore, where 363 lunatics were admitted against 681 in the previous year. Many
sanitary improvements were carried out at this asylum during the year. The
drainage has been remodelled, closed in verandahs have been at my suggestion
entirely opened up and doors removed, thus immensely improving ventilation
of barracks. Tuberculosis cases were all isolated and segregated, and better
bathing and sanitary arrangements were made. These and many other minor
improvements all contributed to the improved state of general health, in which
the female inmates did not so largely share. The portion of the old asylum which
they occupy is not readily susceptible of much improvement. At Patna the
admissions rose from 119 in 1906 to 152 in 1907. Bowel-complaints (dysentery
and diarrhœa), which showed a decrease in this asylum in 1906, were more common
*