Resolution on the Report of the Tezpur Lunatic Asylum for 1884.
Extract from the Proceedings of the Chief Commissioner of Assam, in the General
Department, No. 1,892, dated the 25th March 1885.
READ—
The Annual Report on the Tezpur Lunatic Asylum for the year 1884.
Also—
Letter No. 227C, dated the 24th February 1885, from the Deputy-Surgeon-General of the
Eastern Frontier District, to the Secretary to the Chief Commissioner of Assam.
RESOLUTION.
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THE Report on this Asylum, which is due on the 1st February, was received in
manuscript by the Secretariat office on the 24th February. It is explained that it was
necessary to return the report to Dr. Campbell for correction, as the details in several
instances were found incomplete.
2. There were 67 patients in the Asylum on the 1st January 1884. Twenty-one
new cases were admitted during the year, as compared with 27 in 1883; 15 patients were
discharged as cured, 7 were made over to friends, and 8 died during the year.
Fifty-five patients remained on the 31st December, of whom 42 were males and
13 females.
The mortality has fallen from 14 to 8, while the daily average strength was 59*21,
against 63'76 in 1883.
There was one death from cholera among the patients during the year. A special
report has been supplied by Dr. Campbell on the outbreak of this disease in 1884, and
the measures which he then adopted. The Deputy-Surgeon-General does not accept
the conclusion that the disease was imported from the native town to the Asylum, and
disapproves to some extent of the sanitary arrangements made by the Superintendent.
It is, however, satisfactory to notice that after the death of the first patient no fatal case
occurred in the Asylum.
The daily average number of sick was 2*27, against 3*13 in 1883. Dr. Campbell
attributes the great mortality among the Tezpur Asylum lunatics to the impoverished
condition of the inmates at the time of their admission. An analysis is given in his
report of eight cases received during the year, which shows that many of the insanes had
contracted fatal disease before their arrival at the Asylum. The statistics of sickness
show that the patients suffer from the ordinary ailments common throughout the
Province, and the excessive mortality is not due to any fault in the attention given to
their comforts in the Asylum.
Natives of Assam formed 28 per cent, only of the admissions during the year, the
majority of the patients being natives of Bengal.
The Chief Commissioner is glad to observe that due care has been given to con-
servancy arrangements, that the quality of the food is good, and that the premises have
been kept neat and clean.
The total expenditure on establishment, diet, clothing, contingencies, and bazar
medicines during the year was Rs. 7,087-6-1 in cash drawn from the treasury, showing
a reduction of Rs. 1,332-12-3 as compared with 1883. The receipts of the Manufacture
Department were Rs. 754-1-4, the proceeds from the sale of garden produce. The
cash receipts paid into the treasury amounted to Rs. 79-5, against Rs. 335 in 1883.
Of the garden produce, the greater portion, valued at Rs. 674-12-4, was consumed by
the patients. The average cost of each patient for the year is reckoned as Rs. 135-8,
showing a decrease of Rs. 10-3-8 on the figures for 1883. The value of the vegetables
supplied from the Asylum (Rs. 11-6-1) has been included in this statement. The
charges on account of work done for the Asylum by the Public Works Department
and by convict labour are shown as Rs. 110-12-6 and Rs. 108-12 respectively.
The Superintendent has submitted an interesting report on sugarcane cultivation
in the Asylum. The weight of the cane and of the cane juice has not been given, but the
outturn of gur is fairly good, and the results show that the work is profitable and well
suited to the capacities of the patients. Details of the cane crop cut last January should
now be sent to the Director of Agriculture, and this rule should be observed in future years
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