8
REPORT ON THE RANGOON LUNATIC ASYLUM FOR THE YEAR 1899.
(9) Ah Hnit (Chinese) swallowed a piece of bone with his soup, and in 15 minutes was
relieved by vomiting. The cook was to blame for leaving the bone in the soup and steps
were taken to prevent such an accident recurring.
(10) Mi Sah (female) was hit on the head by another female lunatic with a brick and
received a slight wound which soon healed.
(11) Nga Talôk Gyi was admitted with a contused wound of the under lip caused by
his biting his lip during an epileptic fit. The injury was slight.
(12) Nga Shwe Aung committed a violent assault on one of the Asylum warders, sud-
denly attacking him with an iron hoe and inflicting severe injuries. He was seized and
disarmed by other attendants and cured lunatics. In the scuffle he was thrown down and
disarmed and it was afterwards discovered that his patella was fractured. How the in-
jury was exactly inflicted could not be found out, but it was the result of indirect violence.
He made a good recovery.
(13) Nga Pu, a troublesome lunatic, fell and fractured his right clavicle by indirect
violence and recovered in the usual period.
22. Statement No. VIII, showing the return of sick.—During the year there
were no cases of small-pox, chicken-pox, or cholera, and the number of admis-
sions into hospital was 153 as compared with 173 in 1898.
The chief causes of admissions were mania (20), influenza (15), abscess (15),
debility (13), ague (11), diarrhœa (10).
There was a decrease as compared with last year amongst the patients ad-
mitted for debility and influenza, but a considerable increase under the heading
of mania.
The reason for the increase of admissions to hospital under the head of
mania is not quite clear: 20 cases were admitted in 1899 against 8 in the previ-
ous year. The probability is that in former years patients suffering primarily
from acute mania were admitted to hospital under another heading, i.e., that of
one of the more prominent symptoms of acute mania, i.e., insomnia, debility, con-
stipation, &c.
Six cases of pneumonia admitted in 1899 compare unfavourably with 1898,
when there were no admissions, but the former year was exceptionally free, and
the cases admitted in 1899 do not appear to be due to any preventible cause, as
warm clothing was issued during the cold season. Unless an asylum is run on the
most modern European methods, with night attendants constantly in the sleeping
wards with the lunatics, it is impossible to prevent clothing being discarded by the
more pronounced cases of lunacy, and this leads to chills.
The other variations in admissions to hospital are trifling and call for no re-
mark.
The following table gives the number of admissions to hospital and deaths
during the past three years :—
Year.
1897 ... ... ... ...
1898
...
...
...
...
1899 ... ... ... ...
Daily
average.
333
344
360
Admissions.
139
173
153
Deaths.
36
41*
28†
Percentage of
deaths to daily
average strength.
11
12
8
The total number of deaths was 28 (not including two under observation) giving
a percentage to the daily average strength of 8, or somewhat lower than in the two
preceding years. The chief causes of death were as follows : mania (4), diarrhœa
(4), pneumonia (4), dysentery (3), debility (2).
23. Statement No. IX, showing the Cash Account, &c.—The total expendi-
ture of the year excluding book debit was Rs. 37,700-14-3, being a considerable
decrease compared with 1898, when the expenditure was Rs. 41,532-7-10. The
decrease is largely due to the contractor having to supply 3,000 baskets of paddy
free of cost on account of a defalcation of the paddy account in the previous year,
and also in a smaller degree to a general saving on other items, such as clothing
and bedding, bazaar medicines, and contingencies.
* One lunatic under observation, who died, is not included in this table.
† Two lunatics under observation, who died, are not included in this table.