( 5 )
15. In Patna asylum also the returns of sickness and mortality present
similar features. The number of admissions in 1878 was 81, and the total under
treatment 86. The deaths were 13, of which 4 were due to fever and 3 to spleen
congestion, 3 to diarrhoea and dysentery, and 1 to phthisis. In 1879 there were 170
admissions and 172 under treatment, with no fewer than 35 deaths. Pulmonary
diseases and cholera were both in excess, the former accounting for 3, the latter
for 6 deaths. Diarrhœa and dysentery caused 9 deaths. Dr. French reports
that of the 35 patients who died, only 6 were in good or fair health on admis-
sion, 11 were distinctly weakly, and 17 actually sick.
16. At Berhampore pulmonary disease was less manifest, but dysentery
and diarrhœa were in excess. The returns for 1878 showed 189 cases under
treatment, of whom 16 died, in 10 cases the cause being dysentery or
diarrhoea, and in 2 pulmonary complaints. In 1879 there were 116 admis-
sions and 125 under treatment, of whom 22 died—12 from diarrhœa and
dysentery, 3 from dropsy, 2 from old age, 2 from epilepsy, and 1 from
pneumonia. Of the total number of deaths, 10 were among the 32 lunatics
received from Hazaribagh.
17. In Cuttack there were 35 under treatment as against 28 in 1878;
but the deaths were only 3 as against 5. This asylum had no losses from pneu-
monia, dysentery, or diarrhoea.
18. Cases of accident and injury show a satisfactory decrease in
number. In the Dacca Asylum the improvement is particularly marked.
Formerly there used to be 13 or 14 cases per annum in this institution, indi-
cating either a want of discretion in the selection of lunatics to be trusted with
tools, or defective discipline and negligence on the part of the keepers. Last
year there was only one case of injury caused by one lunatic to another; one
case in which a keeper was injured by a lunatic; and one unfortunate case in
which a cook, wrestling in sport with a patient, threw him and dislocated his
neck. Patna and Dullunda had only two cases each, all caused by patients. In
Cuttack and Berhampore there were no cases of injury.
19. The gross cost of the asylums during the year was Rs. 96,648, against
Rs. 1,21,936 in 1878. A saving of Rs. 18,521 was effected by the closing of
the Hazaribagh Asylum. The average cost per patient did not, on the whole,
differ materially from that in the year preceding.
20. The Lieutenant-Governor has lately, upon the report of the Com-
mittee on Medical Expenditure, given orders for preparing the financial
statistics of asylums upon a uniform plan. These orders were not, however,
issued in time to affect the returns of 1879. It is not therefore worth
while to compare the relative cost of the different asylums in that year,
or to enter at any detail into the question of the gross and net cost of
each asylum, the Committee having shown that conclusions drawn from the
figures as they stand must necessarily be fallacious. It is, however, desirable
here to correct a misapprehension on the part of the Surgeon-General as to the
meaning of paragraph 14 of the Lieutenant-Governor's resolution on the
Committee's report. When raw material purchased for diet, clothing, light-
ing, or other purposes is worked up and issued for asylum use, only the actual
money cost of the articles to Government must be shown in the statements.
No charge should be added to represent the value of lunatic labor, and no
profit should be charged. It is only when manufactured goods are sold to the
outside public that such charges should be added. It is of no practical use to
swell the account against Government by nominal entries for asylum labor and
profits.
21. Generally speaking, in Dullunda the cost of diet was less than in
1878; as also was the cost of establishment. The returns from manufactures
were less owing to a fall in market prices, the absence of the Deputy Superin-
tendent on leave, and the transfer of laboring inmates to jails and unremuner-
ative work, In Dacca the expenditure on diets, clothing, and contingencies, was
in every instance less, notwithstanding the high prices of food which ruled for
nine months of the year. The profits from manufactures showed a slight falling
off owing to the exhaustion of the asylum brickfield. The other asylums also
show slightly decreased cost, and the superintendents everywhere deserve credit
for their careful supervision and economical administration. Next year it
should be possible to compare more closely the working of the different
institutions.