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From the Deputy Commissioner, Toungoo, to the Commissioner of the Tenasseriin Division,—No. 6-1,
dated the — March 1878.
I HAVE the honour to forward the annual report on the lock hospital at this station,
together with a copy of letter No. 8, dated the 8th instant, from the Civil Surgeon. The
several changes in the Civil Department of late have occasioned delay in the submission of
this report.
2. It will be seen that the number of registered women is 22. In regard to the situa-
tion of the hospital, it is certainly not the best that could have been chosen. The building
is very old, and I would recommend for consideration that a hospital be erected in a more
convenient locality, and where more efficient supervision can be exercised. The palisade
around the lock hospital is so made that women find no difficulty in climbing over it.
There have been no escapes of late. The want of a well in the compound is felt, and water
has to be brought from outside.
3. During the year under review, the average strength of British troops has been
417 ; and there have been 45 admissions from venereal disease, or a little more than 10 per
cent. This is somewhat high, but an allowance has to be made on account of imported
disease as noted. The remarks of the Civil Surgeon in regard to camp-followers are
worthy of notice.
4. The Hospital Assistant has been recommended for an extra allowance for per-
forming the duties assigned to him.
From the Civil Surgeon, Toungoo, to the Deputy Commissioner, Toungoo,—No. 8, dated the 8th March
1878.
I HAVE the honour to forward the lock hospital report and returns, which I regret have
been delayed, but not by any fault of mine, as I did not take over charge until the 18th
ultimo.
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Annual Report of the Lock-hospital, Toungoo, for the year 1877.
THIS hospital was opened in June 1874, and its construction and position have been
described in former reports. The accommodation it provides is ample for Toungoo, and
considering the small number of registered women, which is 22, and that during the year
there have never been more than four patients at a time resident in the building, it is in
all respects suitable as far as its construction is concerned. The Commissioner of the
division and all others in authority in Toungoo are agreed that the building is badly
situated. It is at the extreme end of the native town, and at a considerable distance from
any other public building, such as the jail, or dispensary, or police station, and is there-
fore free from any and all supervision. The result of this is that during the year some
of the women, while undergoing treatment in the hospital, made their escape, and were
assisted in so doing by men from outside. The building should be more centrally situated,
and where it could be under surveillance. There is no well in the hospital compound, and
water has to be brought from outside.
2. I assumed charge of this hospital, in connection with the duties of Civil Surgeon,
on the 1st March 1877 from Surgeon Mookerjee.
3. The average strength of British troops for 1875 was 476 ; for that year there were
29 admissions for venereal disease. The average strength of British troops for 1876 was 458.
During the year there were 73 admissions for venereal disease : out of this number, 17 men
contracted the disease elsewhere, leaving 56 due to Toungoo.
4. During the year 1877 the averagestrength of British troops was 417 ; the admissions
for venereal disease were 45 : this shews the working of the Contagious Diseases Act has not
made much progress during the last year. I think every allowance should be made for a
frontier station like Toungoo, which is open to infection from all sides : Shans, Karens,
and people from Upper Burma, and also from the south, daily come into Toungoo, and
that these people import the disease into the district is proved by some of the men who are
infected seeking admission to the civil dispensary for treatment. Shwe-gyeen, where
there is a detachment of the 17th Regiment, Madras Native Infantry, and Ningyan, a large
native town a short distance from the British frontier, are two well-known sources of vene-
real disease.
5. During the year, in the civil dispensary, there were admissions for primary syphilis.
These cases were not contracted in Toungoo : the patients were travellers from Upper
Burma and from Rangoon. In the jail hospital there were 11 admissions for syphilis.
The men contracted the disease at Rangoon and Shwe-gyeen according to their own state-
ments. Amongst the registered women in Toungoo, there have been 63 admissions during
the year : the cases were of a mild nature, and readily yielded to treatment ; a few days suffice
to render them healthy, and, as a rule, the women at the weekly examinations present a very
clean appearance, so much so that I am very much inclined to think the British troops do
not contract disease altogether from these women, but occasionally from the camp-followers
and others in the bazaar who call themselves respectable married women. It is a noteworthy