6
LUNATIC ASYLUMS IN BENGAL.
31. In statement No. 3 are shown the ratios of the patients discharged " cured " and
" improved," as calculated on the mean strength, the total treated, and on the admissions.
STATEMENT No. 3.
ASYLUMS.
Dullunda
...
...
Dacca ... ...
Patna ... ...
Cuttack
...
...
Moydapore
...
...
Berhampore
...
...
All Asylums ...
Males ...
Females ...
PER CENT. OF
Average strength.
Recovered.
26.80
5.61
13.49
12.87
10.74
4.79
13.76
13.47
14.75
Improved, &c.
9.68
25.24
22.22
17.70
1.54
1.06
14.47
17.70
3.18
Total.
36.48
30.85
35.72
30.57
12.28
5.85
28.23
31.16
17.93
Total treated.
Recovered.
17.70
3.96
9 44
9.52
9.69
3.56
10.39
10.12
11.35
Improved, &c.
6.39
17.85
15.56
13.09
1.37
.79
10.92
13.30
2.45
Total.
24.09
21.81
25
22.61
10.96
4.35
21.31
23.41
13.80
Admissions.
Recovered.
47.70
16.66
36.17
33.33
......
21.43
37.08
35.43
43.53
Improved, &c.
17.24
75
59.57
45.83
......
4.76
38.99
46.54
9.41
Total.
64.94
91.66
95.74
79.16
......
26.19
76.07
81.97
52.94
During the year 155 patients (males 118, females 37) were cured, or at the rate of 13.76
per cent. (males 10.48, females 3.28). This rate of recoveries is a low one, and is also below
that of the average of the preceding decennial period—viz. 24.12 per cent. of mean strength.
I consider that the gradual accumulation of chronic cases in the asylums helps to lower the
rate of recovery very considerably.
32. It will also be observed that, taking the average strength as the basis for calcula-
tion, the asylums stand in the following order in respect of recoveries—viz. (1) Dullunda,
(2) Patna, (3) Cuttack, (4) Moydapore, (5) Dacca, and (6) Berhampore. The ratio of
recoveries in Dullunda is high, and in the Cuttack, Patna, and Moydapore Asylums, it is at
a fair rate also; while in the Dacca and Berhampore Asylums the ratio has been at an
unusually low rate.
Cause assigned for
low rate of
recoveries in the
Dacca Asylum.
33. The low rate of recoveries in the Dacca Asylum is stated by the Superintendent
to have been due to several causes, the most important of which was that when the
50 patients were transferred to the Berhampore Asylum only those were sent who were
physically strong, and among them was a fair proportion of patients who had improved
mentally, and who, during the six last months of the year, might have been discharged cured.
But this explanation seems to fail, since the Berhampore Asylum statistics do not show any
corresponding increase in the number of recoveries in consequence of these transferred
promising patients; on the contrary, as already remarked, the recoveries are at an unusually
low rate, the lowest of any asylum in the province during the year 1875.
Causes of low rates
of recoveries in the
Berhampore
Asylum.
34. Regarding the unusually low rate of recoveries in the Berhampore Asylum, the
Superintendent thus expresses himself:—" Under ordinary circumstances this result would
undoubtedly be unsatisfactory; but when the fact that the bulk—more than three-fourths—
of the inmates of this asylum are the weedings of three different asylums is taken into
account, it must, I think, be admitted that the result is not so unfavourable as it would at first
appear." At any rate, the orders of the Government of Bengal conveyed to the Superintend-
ent of the Dacca Asylum (by letter No. 1362 of 1st April 1875, from the Officiating Under-
Secretary to the Government of Bengal) as to the class of lunatics to be transferred to
Berhampore in 1875 are quite clear and explicit.
Average rate of
recoveries in the
lunatic asylums in
the Bengal
Presidency from
1850 to 1855.
35. Before leaving the subject of the rates of recoveries among the asylum patients
during 1875, I may mention that in a report on the lunatic asylums in the Bengal
Presidency drawn up by Dr. J. Macpherson in 1855 it is stated that for the preceding five
years the average rate of recoveries to the admissions was as high as 52.60 per cent., while
the rate of recoveries to admissions for the past quinquennial period in the asylums in the
province of Bengal has been 44.87 per cent., and but 37.08 per cent. for the year under
review.
Discharged
improved.
36. Forty-five patients (males 38, females 7) were improved by treatment and transferred
to the care of their friends. These numbers are at the rate of 3.99 per cent. (males 3.37,
females .62) on the mean strength, and are 2 per cent. lower than the average of the preceding
five years.
Discharged
" otherwise."
37. Seventeen patients were " discharged otherwise:" of these, five males were trans-
ferred from the Dullunda Asylum to stand trial, seven escaped (three from Dullunda, four
from Dacca), and four were boarded out. The disposal of one patient discharged " otherwise
from the Patna Asylum is not mentioned.