MUNICIPAL
DEPARTMENT.
MEDICAL.
DARJEELING, THE 12TH MAY 1904.
RESOLUTION No. 577T.—M.
READ—
The Annual Returns of the Lunatic Asylums in Bengal for the year 1903.
Read also—
The Triennial Report on the working of the Lunatic Asylums in Bengal for the
three years 1900—1902 and the Resolution recorded by Government thereon.
The returns, which were received by the Government before the prescribed
date, have been prepared in accordance with the instructions contained in the
Resolution of the Government of India in the Home Department, No. 21—31,
dated the 12th January 1904.
* Figures for other Provinces
are from Reports for 1902, except
those for the United Provinces,
which are for 1901.
2. The Inspector-General of Civil Hospitals points out in the notes
that the number of new admissions, the daily average population, and the
total number treated were the highest on record, and he suggests that
lunatics are brought into the Asylums more frequently and freely than in
former years. The increase between the years referred to by him is,
however, not greater than is accounted for by the increase in the total
population of the Province. Attention is also drawn to the fact that the
death-rate is higher in Bengal than in some other Provinces. The explana-
tion no doubt is that the total capacity of the Asylums in Bengal is smaller
in proportion to the total population of the Province than that provided
elsewhere; for when only a smaller proportion of the lunatics can be treated
preference must be given to the worst cases, and among these naturally there
is a larger mortality. The average number of inmates per 1,000 of population
was .018 in Bengal as compared with .051 in
Bombay,* .051 in Burmah, and .023 in the Punjab.
The same explanation probably accounts for the
large number discharged as cured in Bengal, which
was 96.44 per mille against 66.41 in Bombay, 80.83 in Burmah, and 70.18 in
the Punjab. The daily average number of inmates in Bengal was 1,053.70,
while the capacity of the Asylums was only 1,188.
3. The Inspector-General of Civil Hospitals points out that the most
serious item in expenditure is the cost of diet. This has increased considerably
more in recent years than either the rise in prices or the larger average popu-
lation appears to account for. In the five years ending in 1892 the average
cost per patient for diet was Rs. 33-13-1, but in the year under review it had
risen to Rs. 47-11-6, or by 41.11 per cent. In the different Asylums the percen-
tage of increase was as follows:—Dullunda 32.60, Dacca 15-02, Patna 31.18,
Berhampore 18.34, and Cuttack 62.21. An explanation should be obtained of
the large increase in the last-named Asylum. Figures for this comparison are
not available for Bhawanipur. On the other hand, if the comparison be made
with the quinquennial period ending with 1902, it will be found that there has
been an actual decrease, the total cost of diet in the year 1903 having been
less than in the year 1902 and almost the same as in the year 1901. It is also
satisfactory to note that the average total cost per patient in Bengal (Rs. 130)
is less than in Bombay (Rs. 174), Madras (Rs. 172), the Punjab (Rs. 166), or
Burmah (Rs. 149), although it considerably exceeds the figure shown for the
United Provinces (Rs. 95).
4. It is undeniable that the arrangements at the Asylums are in many
respects far below the standard of the present day. Especially is this the
case in Bhawanipur, where the patients are shut in, and where their surround-
ings are not conducive to successful treatment. At other Asylums also,