( 48 )
The accommodation provided by the hospital has remained the same.
The average daily sick has been 4.12 during the year. The average space
per inmate was 45.63 cubic feet.
The lock-hospital, &c., and the enclosures, are kept in a cleanly state. The
site is naturally well drained. Good water is procured from an adjacent well
throughout the year.
No change has taken place in the medical charge of the lock-hospital
during the year.
A wing and head-quartets of the 33rd Regiment M. N. I. has been stationed
in Moulmein during the year.
The following return exhibits the extent of veneral diseases treated at that
hospital :—
Regiment.
Period of occu-
pation.
Average strength.
Admissions of veneral
diseases.
N u m b e r .
Rate of admissions per
1,000 strength during
period of occupa-
tion.
33rd Regiment
Left Wing and
Head-quarters.
One and three-
quarter years..
327
Primary syphilis
..
5
15.3
Local venereal sores ..
4
12.2
NOTE—Diseases contracted at Moulmein, nine.
The lock-hospital being a civil institution is supervised by the Town
Magistrate, and visited from time to time by the Commissioner and Deputy
Commissioner resident in Moulmein.
Order is maintained in the lines for prostitutes by the Inspector of Police
acting under the orders of the Magistrate.
During the past year 12 women were brought before the Magistrate for
practising clandestine prostitution, of whom three were convicted (two fined and
one imprisoned) and nine acquitted.
The women admitted into hospital conduct themselves quietly and decently.
The matron and cook-woman compose the establishment of servants, and
have performed their duties satisfactorily.
The registration of prostitutes is carried out by an Inspector of Police
especially appointed to the lock-hospital under the orders of the Magistrate.
It is chiefly confined to Burmese and Coringees (natives from the Madras coast).
There are also a few Bengalees.
The number on the register at the beginning of the year was 54, 42 were
newly registered during the year, and 18 struck off, leaving 78 on the books at the
end of the year.
Registration extends over the limits of the town of Moulmein,—an area of ten
and-a-half square miles. It is feared that much undiscovered prostitution exists.
The number of women on the register—78—can scarcely be regarded as truly
representing the number of persons practising prostitution.
Registration fees are not levied from prostitutes in Moulmein, and the
institution is therefore not self-supporting.
The attendance of the prostitutes at the periodical examinations have been
very irregular during the past year. One hundred and fifteen women were
reported to the Magistrate for non-attendance.
During the year 18 prostitutes were struck off the register : of these, 11 abscond-
ed and seven had their licenses cancelled.
Women who failed to attend three consecutive examinations, and whose
whereabouts could not be found, were struck off the books.
On being registered the prostitutes are sent to the lock-hospital for examination
and detained for treatment if found diseased. No prostitute is permitted
to reside within cantonment.
Of 92 admissions into hospital during the year, all were found to be diseased
at the periodical examinations.