MUNICIPAL
DEPARTMENT.
MEDICAL.
CALCUTTA, THE 6TH APRIL 1903.
RESOLUTION—No. 1731Medl.
READ—
The Triennial Report on the Lunatic Asylums in Bengal for the years 1900, 1901
and 1902.
READ also—
The Returns for 1901 and the Report on the Lunatic Asylums for 1900, and the
Resolutions recorded by Government thereon.
1. THIS is the first Triennial Report on the Lunatic Asylums in Bengal,
and it has been submitted with commendable punctuality. Due regard has
been paid to the orders of Government in respect of the character and extent
of the report.
2. The number of lunatics, both European and native, in all the asylums
in the Province at the commencement of each year of the triennium under
report was 926 in 1900, 943 in 1901, and 1,009 in1902, showing a steady rise.
At the close of the year 1902, there were 1,033 lunatics under detention in the
asylums. The proportion of criminal lunatics to the total asylum population
averaged a little over 50 per cent.
3. Complaint is made of the want of accommodation in the European
Asylum at Bhowanipore. The asylum has accommodation for 42 patients
and the maximum number on any one night was 40. It appears that there is a
considerable demand for the admission of mild cases for which the asylum was
not originally intended, but to which it is difficult to refuse admission, and
it is reported that 38 per cent. of those who were admitted in 1902 were
cured and discharged during the year. Even if greater care be taken to admit
only dangerous cases, the margin of available accommodation is too small, and
the question of increasing the accommodation at this asylum is under con-
sideration. In the meantime new wards for females have recently been
completed and made available for occupation.
There was slight overcrowding in the native asylums at Dacca and Patna,
but this inconvenience will be removed as soon as the new Central Asylum at
Berhampore is completed and ready for occupation.
4. In more than 50 per cent. of the number of admissions into the asylums
during the triennium the causes of insanity could not be ascertained. This pro-
portion is unduly large, and the Lieutenant-Governor desires to point out
emphatically that it is the duty of committing officers to make the fullest
enquiry into every case, so as to ascertain, as far as possible, the antecedents
of lunatics, and the circumstances which led to their loss of reason. It is
manifest that information of this kind would greatly assist the medical officers
in dealing with the cases. Instructions have lately been issued by Govern-
ment in regard to the preparation of the medical history sheets of lunatics
committed to asylums, and it is hoped that a careful compliance with those
instructions will produce better results. Among ascertained cases an increasing
number, amounting to 42 per cent. in 1902, were attributed to the abuse
of ganja.
5. The general health of the inmates of the asylums was satisfactory,
except in the year 1900, when a large number of patients were treated for
short periods. There is a growing increase in the number of cases of
phthisis, especially in the Dacca Asylum, where the figures for the three
years were 12 in 1900, 13 in 1901 and 29 in 1902. The Inspector-General
of Civil Hospitals has submitted a proposal to construct a separate ward at
this asylum for the treatment of such cases, and this is now under the