No. 16760.
FROM MAJOR GENERAL R. HEARD, C.I.E.,
K.H.S., M.D., I.M.S.,
Surgeon-General with the Govern-
ment of Bengal,
To THE SECRETARY,
GOVERNMENT OF BENGAL,
LOCAL SELF-GOVT. DEPARTMENT,
Medical Branch.
Calcutta, the 7th November 1924.
SIR,
I have the honour to submit the
eighth Triennial Report on the working
of the Mental Hospitals in Bengal for the
period 1921-23 and to append the usual
statistical returns.
One of the notable events of the
triennium is the change in the nomen-
clature of Lunatic Asylums of this Pre-
sidency to Mental Hospitals which was
introduced in the year 1922. Hitherto
the stigma attached to the name
" Lunatic Asylum" prevented curable
patients entering these institutions and
thus deprived them of specialist treat-
ment. It is hoped that by the change in
nomenclature now introduced patients
suffering from mental diseases will come
to these hospitals for treatment while
still in the early and curable stages and
that the usefulness of these institutions
will in this way be increased.
Number of Mental Hospitals and
accommodation.—The number of insti-
tutions for the accommodation of in-
sane persons remained the same as in the
preceding triennium, viz., two regular
Mental Hospitals at Berhampore and
Dacca, an Observation Ward at Bhowani-
pore and a ward for insane lepers at the
Leper Asylum at Gobra. On the aboli-
tion of the regular lunatic asylum for
Europeans at Bhowanipore and the trans-
fer of its inmates to the European Mental
Hospital at Ranchi, a ward was opened
at Bhowanipore on a temporary basis in
September 1918, providing accommoda-
tion for four European " observation "
cases only, pending the construction of
buildings as permanent
observation
wards for both Europeans and Indians.
The new buildings were completed in
1923, but owing to the precarious condi-
tion of the Provincial finances they
could not be brought into use until May
1924. The new Observation Wards
admit both European
and
Indian
patients and have accommodation for 32
cases, viz., 6 beds for Europeans, 24 beds
for Indians and 2 beds for patients in
segregation.
The capacity of the Central Mental
Hospital at Berhampore and the ward
for insane lepers at the Gobra Leper
Asylum remained the same as in the pre-
vious triennium, viz., 764 beds in the
former and 10 beds in the latter; while
the accommodation in the Dacca Mental
Hospital, which had provided for 319
patients during the preceding three
years, was raised to 343 by the construc-
tion in 1921 of an additional barrack
for
twenty-four
male
patients.
The capacity of the various institutions
at the end of the triennium under review
was as follows :—
Central
Mental
Hospital,
Berhampore ..
Mental Hospital, Dacca
Ward for insane hpers, Gobra
Observation Ward (Temporary)
Bhowanipore ..
Males.
616
298
8
2
Females.
148
45
2
2
Total.
764
343
10
4
The number of separate cubicles for vio-
lent and maniacal patients was 156, viz.,
79 at Dacca and 77 at Berhampore. All
the institutions except the ward for in-
sane lepers at Gobra, provide accommo-
dation for paying patients.
There was no overcrowding in any
institution during the period under
review.
Population.—The
annual
average
number of patients treated in the Men-
tal Hospitals including the Observation
Wards during the period under review
was 1,215 as compared with 1,315 dur-
ing 1918-20. The transfer of the entire
population of the European Lunatic
Asylum at Bhowanipore and of the
Anglo-Indian patients of the Berham-
pore Lunatic Asyum to Ranchi in 1918
was mainly responsible for this fall.
The average number of patients confined
in the four institutions on the first day
of each year of the triennial period
under review was 965 as compared with
1,029, the average of the previous trien-
nium. The average number of patients
on the last day of each year was 958 as
1 A