NationalLibraryOfScotland/medical-history-of-british-india huggingface dataset:
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Measures in the Bombay Presidency and Sind. [ APP. VI.
fumigation and limewashing divisions were put under the same
officer.
21. Before the operations of the military commenced, a list was
prepared of all the houses in the city in which plague cases or deaths
from any cause had occurred since March 1st and which had not
already been disinfected. All houses on this list had to be dealt with by
the fumigators. Thereafter they were supplied daily with a list of houses
from which fresh plague cases or deaths from any cause had been
reported to the municipal authorities. In addition to the houses
entered in these lists, all houses in which cases of plague corpses
were found during the morning's search had to be disinfected.
22. The preparation of correct lists of houses for fumigation was
found to be a matter of considerable practical difficulty. Persons
who reported deaths at the Municipal Office constantly gave the
address of the deceased incorrectly, thereby exposing an uninfected
house to disinfection and its inmates to the inconveniences of segre-
gation. To get over this difficulty Municipal Conservancy Inspec-
tors were entrusted with the duty of verifying the addresses at which
plague attacks and deaths had occurred. The work was indifferently
performed by them and was accordingly made over to the Assistant
Masters from the Poona High School, whose services were lent by
the Director of Public Instruction. It was finally transferred to
non-commissioned officers of the native infantry.
23. During the greater portion of the operations the fumigation
divisions worked daily over the same local area as the search divi-
sions. One or more fumigation parties accompanied each search
division for the purpose of disinfecting any houses where cases might
be found in the morning's search. The remaining parties of the
fumigation divisions were employed on the disinfection of houses
entered on the fumigation lists, and situated within the section of the
city to be searched on the particular day. At the close of the opera-
tions, when the number of houses for disinfection was small, this
arrangement was not strictly adhered to, and the fumigation parties
were employed in whatever part of the city there was work for them
to do.
24. It will be seen in the " Directions for Fumigators " that two
alternative processes of disinfection were prescribed.
In practice,
however, it was found that most houses could not be made sufficiently
airtight to admit of the fumigation process, and flushing with per-
chloride of mercury was the method of disinfection commonly adopted.
APP. VI. ] Measures in the 'Bombay Presidency and Sind.
317
25. Appendix 7 shows the number of houses disinfected on each
day of the operations.
The total number disinfected was 1,918, of which no less than
1,189 were disinfected before the end of March. The number of
houses for disinfection naturally fell off as the epidemic decreased,
and it was therefore possible to make frequent reductions in the
numbers of the fumigation parties,
The Limewashing Parties.
26. Particulars of the constitution and duties of the limewashing
parties will be found in the printed " Directions for Limewashers"
(Appendix 8). These directions were approved by the Plague Com-
mittee on March 24th and were published for general information.
27. For the first few clays of the operations by the military a
limewashing party consisted of three European and one native
soldier, and one cart containing limewash and implements was assigned
for two parties. The constitution of the parties was as stated in the
directions from March 22nd. In the first instance two limewashing
divisions of ten parties each were employed. The number of divi-
sions was, however, raised to three with effect from March 22nd. On
April 1st three parties were added to each division. On April 8th the
strength of the limewashers was reduced from three divisions of 13
parties each to one division consisting of 15 parties.
28. The number of houses or portions of houses limewashed on
each day of the operations is given in Appendix 9. The total number
limewashed from March i5th to May 19th was 3,068.
29. The limewashing divisions usually worked in the portion of the
town in which the search and fumigation divisions had worked on the
previous day, Officers commanding limewashing divisions were fur-
nished daily with lists of houses for limewashing. All houses which
had been disinfected, either by the military fumigation divisions or by
the municipal staff, were included in these lists. Houses, which
though not infected were found to be in a filthy state, were also
included.
30. It was found, at the beginning of the operations, that rather too
many articles were at times destroyed as rubbish. Orders were
accordingly issued on March 26th to officers commanding limewash-
ing divisions to visit, if possible, all houses to be limewashed and to
decide what should be destroyed in each. It was also laid down that
when property of any value to the owners was destroyed by limewash-
ing party, the officer commanding the division should note the
318
Measures in the Bombay Presidency and Sind. [ A PP. VI.
approximate cost of replacing what had been destroyed in order that
compensation might afterwards be paid. In practice nothing was des-
troyed after the first fortnight of the operations except in the presence
of an officer.
31. When a house was lime washed, any property of value which it
contained was usually handed over to the neighbours for safe custody.
When this could not be arranged, which seldom happened, all valu-
ables were sent to the Plague Committee's warehouse, where they
were kept till claimed by the owners.
The Segregators.
32. The work of removing to the segregation camps the apparently
healthy inmates of infected houses was performed by native infantry
under the command of a British officer. A segregation party was
present daily in the "section of the city where the search divisions
were working. The segregation of the inmates of houses where cases
were found by the searchers was made in accordance with the instruc-
tions contained in the " Directions for Searchers " (Appendix 2). A
more laborious part of the duty of the segregators, however, was the
segregation of the inmates of houses where plague cases had occurred
which had come to light otherwise than through the agency of the
search parties, or where deaths had taken place which had not been
certified by a commissioned medical officer to be due to some cause
other than plague. The Segregation Officer, Lieutenant Owen Lewis
of the 14th Bombay Infantry, was furnished daily with a list of such
houses.
33. At the commencement of the operations segregation ceased to
be carried out in the morning at the time when the search was going
on in the city. It was found, however, that to avoid segregation the
inmates of infected houses commonly absented themselves from home
during the ordinary working hours. It was therefore found necessary
in the later stages of the operations to vary the hours of work for the
segregators from day to day. The work of the Segregation Officer
was by no means easy, and it was often a matter of much practical
difficulty to determine who should and who should not be segregated.
Mistakes were made at times, but I am satisfied that segregation was
on the whole conducted with discretion and tact.
IV.—PLAGUE WORK PERFORMED BY MUNICIPAL AGENCY IN POONA
CITY.
The subject of the plague first came before the general body of the
Municipality at a meeting held on 3oth September 1896 when a dis-
cussion took place on a question asked by one of the members. No
APP. VI. ] Measures in the Bombay Presidency and Sind.
319
Resolution was passed on that occasion and no other business connected
with the plague was brought before the Corporation till January
13th, 1897. Some action was, however, taken by the Municipal Exe-
cutive in the meanwhile. On 30th September 1896 a medical man
was employed at the Poona railway station conjointly by the Poona
Suburban and City Municipalities to watch in-coining passengers from
Bombay.
2. On 6th October 1896 the Managing Committee ordered that
drains and gutters should be cleansed and flushed as a precautionary
measure. These orders were carried out in the course of the month
of October. On January 13th, 1897, the Municipality considered
letters received from the Sanitary Commissioner and other officials on
the subject of the plague, and resolved that the Managing Committee
should, in consultation with the Sanitary Committee, make proposals
for the approval of the general body regarding the measures to be
adopted by the Municipality in the matter of the plague under section
73 of Bombay Act VI of 1873. At the same meeting an Assistant to
the Health Officer was appointed, and the Municipality agreed to bear
one-third of the cost of the plague sheds which had been erected at the
Sassoon Hospital, On January 18th Municipality agreed to bear one-
third of the cost of establishment and medicines for the Plague Hos-
pital. The construction of a segregation camp on the Shankarshet
road was commenced on 1st February 1897.
3. Regulations under section 73 of Bombay Act VI of 1873 were
finally sanctioned for the City of Poona by the Commissioner, C.D., in
his memorandum No. 252-P., elated 29th January 1897. A copy of
these regulations is attached (Appendix 10). On January 25th Doctor
Dhamdhere, the Assistant Health Officer, was put on pure plague
work, and detailed instructions were given to him for dealing with
plague cases and affected dwellings. Practically no attempt was made
by him to remove the sick for the reason that all cases were systemati-
cally concealed and information of a plague case was only received
after death. When such cases were found the infected houses were
fumigated, cleared of dirt and rubbish and then whitewashed. Disin-
fectants were used over the dirty parts of houses, and wells belonging
to the houses were treated with permanganate of potash. The clothes
of the sick were burnt. All public wells in the city were treated by
the Municipal staff in the same way as those belonging to infected
houses. About 1,600 houses were whitewashed under the orders of
the Municipality between 2nd February and 25th March.
4. Surgeon-Captain Lloyd Jones arrived in Poona on February 8th
and undertook the supervision of the operations against the phgue,
320
Measures in the Bombay Presidency and Sind. [ APP. VI.
which so far had been entirely carried out by native agency. When
he arrived the death-rate of the city was more than twice the normal,
and the epidemic was daily increasing and becoming more virulent.
There was intense opposition to anti-plague measures and no cases
were voluntarily disclosed. Whenever a case was heard of, the house
was visited and the sick person removed (generally by force) to hospi-
tal On two occasions the opposition went so far that the persons
removing the patients were mobbed and the cases rescued. The
segregation of the apparently healthy inmates of infected houses was
tried but failed almost entirely owing to the intense opposition of the
people and the absence of a suitable agency to enforce it. Owing to
other calls upon him the District Supeintendent of Police was only
able to supply 12 policemen for regular plague duty—a number wholly
insufficient for the enforcement of measures which were distasteful to
the general public.
5. Shortly after his arrival Surgeon-Captain Lloyd Jones com-
menced a house-to-house visitation with a view to the improvement of
the sanitary condition of dwelling-houses. In the houses visited
ventilation openings were made, and the drains were attended to
according to the requirements of each case. Where necessary, the
houses themselves were limewashed. Over 1,000 houses were examined
by Surgeon-Captain Lloyd Jones personally in Raviwar Peth.
He found in the course of his inspections that the Municipal staff
was very inadequate; cesspools were not emptied for days in some
cases, drains were clogged and almost all side-lanes formed a com-
bined dust-bin and public latrine. There was little supervision over
the Municipal subordinates.
6. During January and February the health establishment was
considerably increased. On February 16th Doctor Benjamin Solomon
was engaged as an additional Assistant Health Officer, while shortly
afterwards Doctor Bhau Vithoji was engaged in a similar capacity.
Four European Inspectors were taken on, while the numbers of
Native Inspectors, mukadams and sweepers were largely increased.
7. On February 25th the city was under my orders divided into
two sections for purposes of plague work, one section being placed
under Surgeon-Captain Lloyd Jones and the other under Surgeon-
Captain Beveridge. This arrangement continued till March 11th,
when other duties being assigned to Surgeon-Captain Beveridge,
Surgeon-Captain Lloyd Jones resumed charge of the municipal plague
operations throughout the city. The work of searching for plague
cases was then divided between the three Assistant Health Officers,
each of whom had certain peths assigned to him. To the European
APP. VI ] Measures in the Bombay Presidency and Sind.
321
Inspectors were assigned the duties of fumigating and disinfecting
houses, where cases of plague were discovered by municipal establish-
ments, and of opening up houses that were badly lighted or ventilated.
All houses in the following peths—Somwar, Mangalwar, Rastia,
Kasba, Ganesh, Bhawani, Ganj, Vctal, Sukrawar, and Budhwar—have
been examined by the Inspectors and opened up where necessary.
Details of the work done by the Assistant Health Officers and Inspec-
tors are shown in Appendices 11 and 12.
8. It will be gathered from Appendix 11 that the Assistant Health
Officers were far more successful in their search for plague cases from
13th March, when the military house-to-house inspection commenced,
than they had been previously. The reason of this is that when
search by the military commenced, many persons voluntarily gave
information of plague cases to the municipal authorities. Surgeon-
Captain Lloyd Jones reports that the Assistant Health Officers and
Inspectors have worked excellently and specially mentioned Doctors
Solomon and Dhamdhere, Inspectors Curtis and Ryan and Mukada-n
Kalu.
9. I am of opinion that the work carried out under Surgeon-Cap-
tain Lloyd Jones' supervision had been very satisfactorily performed,
and that this result is chiefly due to the zeal and conscientiousness
he has himself shown in the discharge of his duties. The value of such
work as the removal of 608 cases to the plague hospitals is obvious,
while the improvement that has been effected in the ventilation of
dwelling-houses should have a lasting effect upon the health of the
city.
10. Of the Municipal Commissioners the majority have rendered
little service in connection with the plague operations. On February
16th, 1897, the Municipality resolved that the wards of the city should
he distributed among the members who should form committees to
induce the public to send patients to hospital. This resolution had,
however, no practical result. On March 16th, 1897 I, as Chairman of
the Plague Committee, wrote to the President of the Municipality
asking him to request the members to enrol ward visitors in the wards
to which they belonged. The duties proposed for the ward visitors
were—
(a) to obtain information of the occurrence of plague cases in
their wards ;
(b) to induce the friends of plague patients to remove them
voluntarily to hospital ; and
(c) to accompany military search patients on days when the
parties worked in the wards to which the visitors belonged.
Unfortunately nothing came of this suggestion.
b 41
322
Measures in the Bombay Presidency and Sind, [ APP. VI.
The names of those gentlemen who rendered assistance to the
military search parties are mentioned elsewhere. I may note here that
Sardar Khan Bahadur Dorabji Padamji, President of the Municipality,
has rendered good service to the public by administering a fund for
the relief of sufferers from the plague.
V.—CONSERVANCY IN POONA CITY.
The Plague Committee have attached great importance to bringing
the general sanitation of Poona City up to as high a level as circum-
stances permitted. The charge of the conservancy of the city was
entrusted to Surgeon-Major Barry on February 27th, and it has
remained with him ever since.
2. I am not able to write from personal experience of the sanitary
condition of the city before the epidemic commenced. At the end of
February, owing to the entertainment of special establishments for
sanitary work, it was probably somewhat better than usual. The
streets and some of the lanes and open spaces left little to be desired
in point of cleanliness. In other respects, the conservancy of Poona
was about up to the average standard of mofussil towns in Western
India, and consequently far below what is required by public opinion
in Western Europe.
3. The health of the city necessarily was and is largely dependent
on the arrangements for the removal of sewage. In the western
portion of the city a system of sewers was constructed in the time of
the Peshwas. These sewers have not been superseded by any later
improvements and are still in use. No plan of the sewerage system
is in existence, and the course of many of the sewers is unknown. A
large proportion of the branch sewers have been wholly or partially
blocked for years. The eastern portion of the city is unsewered, and
there a system of cesspools prevails. Surface-water is carried off by
gutters which are usually covered with stone slabs. In parts of the
city where there are no sewers nightsoil is removed from the privies
by Bhangis who convey it in baskets to iron barrel carts which are kept
as fixed stations in the city. It is carried in the carts to the nightsoil
depot outside the city.
4. I do not propose to deal at length with the shortcomings of the
Poona Municipality in the matter of conservancy which were brought
to light in the course of our operations, but I will enumerate the
principal ones :—
The post of Health Officer was held by a young Brahmin,
L. M. & S., who was quite unfit for the place. The night-
soil carts were for the most part in imperfect repair. 'J he
stands where the nightsoil carts were kept were in an
APP. VI. ] Measures in the Bomb ay Presidency and Sind.
323
offensive state. The number of carts employed for the
removal of stilläge water was insufficient.
Dust-bins were not emptied regularly, and rubbish was
allowed to accumulate in open spaces.
The channels or morís leading from the privies to the sewers
were usually more or less blocked. The sewers into which
the moris led were many of them blocked.
The Bhangis as a class were out of hand, and neglected their
duties owing to want of proper supervision. The low-
caste quarters of the city were neglected.
There was insufficient supervision over the conservancy arrange-
ments generally.
5. To improve the sanitary condition of the city the first essential
was to provide an efficient supervising establishment. Accordingly 18
British privates with two non-commissioned officers were appointed
Conservancy Inspectors. A respectable English-knowing native was
attached to each of them as Sub-Inspector. During a portion of the
operations a British officer was detailed to supervise them, subject to
the orders of Surgeon-Major Barry. The incompetent Health Officer
was discharged by the Plague Committee and Mr. George Guider,
who has since done good work, was appointed in his place. As it was
essential that the sanitary condition of the city should be improved
without delay, considerable additions were made to all branches of the
subordinate conservancy establishment.
6. Special attention was paid by Surgeon-Major Barry to the
systematic flushing of privies, moris and main drains. The disinfect-
ants used for this purpose were creosotive, and subsequently corrosive
sublimate.
The work of the Bhangis was carefully supervised, and the regular
removal of nightsoil from privies was enforced. Nightsoil carts were
repaired as far as possible and efforts made to obtain new ones. None
ready-made could however be obtained on this side of India. Open
spaces and lanes as well as the main streets were systematically cleared
of rubbish.
Steps were taken by the issue of notices under the Municipal Act
and otherwise to get insanitary privies put into a sanitary condition.
7. The city having been brought into a fair state of cleanliness the
special subordinate conservancy establishments were ordered to be
discharged from May 16th. Twelve British non-commissioned officers
and privates with an equal number of English-knowing special sub-
inspectors were however retained,
324
Measures in the Bombay Presidency and Sind. [APP. Vï.
8. I am of opinion that the measures taken had the effect of mate-
rially improving the sanitary state of the city of Poona, and that great
credit for the results obtained is clue to Surgeon-Major Barry. There
can be little doubt that the city is now cleaner than it ever has been
within the memory of living man, and this is probably one of the causes
that has kept down the general mortality.
9. Some particulars of the conservancy work clone during the time
the military inspectors were employed will be found in Appendix 13.
VI.—WORK IN POONA CANTONMENT.
The importance of taking stringent measures to check the spread
of the plague was recognised by the Poona Cantonment authorities
long before indigenous cases of the disease had appeared in the canton-
ment. The matter was referred to higher authority and finally the
General Officer of the Bombay Command, with the sanction of the
Government of India, prescribed for Poona Cantonment the temporary
regulations contained in Appendix 14. These regulations were pub-
lished by the Cantonment Magistrate on 20th January 1897. Prior
to this, however, special attention was paid to the whitewashing of
houses and the cleansing and disinfection of sewers and drains.
2. Towards the end of January the General Officer Commanding
at the request of the Cantonment Magistrate placed Surgeon-Major
Donnet on special duty in the cantonment to make a house-to-house
visitation and to supervise sanitary arrangements. This officer was
attacked with plague in the performance of his duties and going
on leave was succeeded by Surgeon-Captain Thacker, who has
since been in medical charge of plague operations in the canton-
ment.
3. When the operations in Poona Cantonment were placed under
the Plague Committee's control that committee, as already stated
in section II of this report, delegated certain of its powers to Colonel
Newnham-Smith, Cantonment Magistrate.
Thereafter all plague
measures of a routine nature were carried out under his orders, sub-
ject, however, to the Committee's general control. The removal of
the plague-stricken to hospital and the segregation of the inmates of
infected houses was systematically enforced.
4. Military search parties were employed in the cantonment from
March 18th. In the first instance two parties of three British soldiers,
each under a non-commissioned officer, were sent there. On March
22nd the number of search parties was increased to six. On April
9th, as the disease appeared to be increasing in the cantonment,
two divisions of 10 parties each were sent there. Each party con-
sisted of one British and two native soldiers, and the search divisions