RESOLUTION.
ON THE
REPORT ON LOCK-HOSPITALS IN BRITISH BURMA
For the year 1878.
Extract from the Proceedings of the Chief Commissioner of British Burma in the General Department,—
No. 263, dated the 29th July 1879.
READ—
Annual Reports on the working of the several Lock-hopitals in the province of British Burma for
the year 1878.
Read also—
The Review on the working of the Lock-hospitals : by the Deputy Surgeon-General.
RESOLUTION.—Eight lock-hospitals were open throughout the year 1878.
At Rangoon, Thayetmyo, and Toungoo, where European troops are stationed, the
hospitals were under the Cantonment Act of 1864 ; at Moulmein, Akyab, Prome,
Bassein and Henzada, they were under the Contagious Diseases Act of 1868.
Towards the close of the year the Government of India called attention to the
fact that the extension of the latter Act to inland towns was peculiar to British
Burma and that it was doubtful whether much benefit had been derived from its
operation. After consulting with the Sanitary Commissioner and the Commis-
sioner of Pegu the Chief Commissioner came to the conclusion that there was no
necessity for the lock-hospital at Henzada. The hospital was accordingly closed,
with the sanction of the Government of India, in the early part of the current
year. It was not however considered advisable to close the lock-hospital at
Prome, where there are about thirty women on the register, as troops frequently pass
through the station, which is also within easy reach of Rangoon and Thayetmyo.
2. The compiled returns of the eight lock-hospitals which were open in
1878 shew that 1,101 women were borne on the registers during the year,
and that 1,159 cases of sickness occurred among them. The average number
of women on the registers was 691, and the number remaining at the end of the
year was 655. The average attendance of the women at the examinations was
73 per cent. of the whole, or 89 per cent. if the number of women in hospital be
counted as present at the examinations at Rangoon as they have been at the other
hospitals. The gross cost to Government was Rs. 21,755, of which Rs. 5,071 was
recovered in fines and fees. A sum of Rs. 4,130 was levied at Rangoon and Tha-
yetmyo as fees for registration. The practice of levying fees from prostitutes has
since been declared illegal, and has been discontinued. A sum of Rs. 940 only
was realized from fines for breaches of the rules. No safe conclusions can be drawn
from the figures given in the report with regard to the comparative prevalence of
venereal disease among the European troops in 1878 and in previous years. The
figures given by the Deputy Surgeon-General in the third paragraph of his review
for the years 1875 to 1877 reproduce the errors of last year's report ; and the figures
for 1878 differ from those given by the Commissioners of divisions, which again
differ in most cases from those given by the Medical Officers. The exclusion of
" imported cases" from the table given by the Deputy Surgeon-General is contrary
to the expressed wishes of the Sanitary Commissioner with the Government of
India. It is to be regretted that some effort has not been made to attain that
accuracy the want of which has been repeatedly pointed out in the resolutions
of the Chief Commissioner and in the orders of the Government of India. The
Deputy Surgeon-General should devise effective measures, in communication with
the Military Department, for obtaining more accurate statistics for future reports,
in which, also, discrepancies between the figures in different parts of the report
should not be allowed to occur without explanation or comment. The Deputy