MUNICIPAL
DEPARTMENT.
MEDICAL.
No. 1487Med.
CALCUTTA, THE 20TH APRIL 1893.
RESOLUTION.
READ—
The Report on the Lunatic Asylums in Bengal for the year 1892.
Read again—
The Report for the year 1891 and the Resolution recorded upon it.
There was a slight decrease in the population of the five Native Asylums
in the year under review. The number of persons under detention on the
1st January 1892 was 963. During the year 158 persons were admitted and
28 re-admitted, giving a total of 1,149 treated against 1,234, the figures
of the previous year. The discharges (cured and otherwise) were 71 and 43
respectively, and 84 patients died, leaving 951 persons in confinement at the
close of the year against 963 persons at the close of 1891. The number of
criminal lunatics in confinement at the close of the year was the same as in the
previous year, the decrease of 12 in the total population occurring in the non-
criminal class.
2. The number of admissions and re-admissions fell from 213 in the
previous year to 186. Of this number, 98 were criminals and 88 non-criminals,
against 91 criminals and 122 non-criminals in 1891. The Lieutenant-Governor
is glad to observe this decrease in the admissions of non-criminals, which
is attributed to the instructions contained in Government Circular No. 42, dated
the 3rd December 1891, prescribing the exercise of greater discrimination in
admitting patients to a lunatic asylum. While a falling off of 39 is shown in
the number of admissions, it is remarkable that the number of re-admissions,
which increased by 12, should be the highest recorded during the last ten years
for which figures are given in the report. In last year's Resolution it was
observed that the increase in the number of persons discharged was remark-
able and its cause a little obscure, and the Inspector-General should now inquire
whether the increase in the number of re-admissions in 1892, for which no
explanation has been offered, may not to some extent be due to premature dis-
charges in the previous year.
3. The Inspector-General of Civil Hospitals observes that the criminal
population was in excess of that in any of the previous nine years, except 1890
and 1891, and seems inclined to think that the increase may be due to
the effect of the rules for the treatment of recovered criminal lunatics
confined in asylums and for their discharge, issued with Government Resolution
of 21st August 1888, which, in his opinion, cause the detention of a larger
proportion of these lunatics than heretofore. The Lieutenant-Governor is unable
to concur in this opinion, which is opposed to the view taken last year, when
part of the decrease in the number of criminal lunatics in 1891 was ascribed
to the effect of those rules. The table of criminal lunatics given in the report
shows that, with the exception of 1887, when there was a slight decrease, there
has been a continuous increase in the number remaining under confinement at
the close of each year up to 1890, and that since then there has been a decrease.
It is therefore obvious that the causes of the increase must be some other than the
rules of 1888.
4. During the year under review, the only asylum at which the total
number of inmates at any time exceeded the capacity was that at Dacca, but the