RESOLUTION
ON THE
REPORT ON THE RANGOON LUNATIC ASYLUM
FOR THE YEAR 1879.
Extract from the Proceedings of the Chief Commissioner, British Burma, in the Judicial Department,—
No. 5-32, dated the 1st April 1880.
READ—
Report on the Lunatic Asylum of Rangoon for the year 1879.
RESOLUTION.—The Rangoon Lunatic Asylum has suitable accommodation at
present for 171 patients. Thirty-eight additional cells are under construction, and
accommodation will thus be provided for 209 patients in all. At the commence-
ment of the year 1879 the number of inmates was 195, the daily average throughout
the year was slightly over 200, and at the close of the year 189 patients remained.
The greatest number of lunatics confined on any one night was 211. The num-
ber of criminal lunatics in the asylum varies but little from year to year ; but the
number of non-criminal lunatics is increasing annually. This fact was noticed
in the review by the Government of India of the report for 1878, and an enquiry
was suggested as to whether the orders contained in Home Department circular
No. 13-511, dated the 14th September 1877, as to the kind of lunatics who alone
should be received as unpaying patients in an asylum, were being acted upon.
Upon being asked this question, the Superintendent reported that the order that
persons who are merely suffering temporarily from the effects of intoxicating
drugs or spirits are not to be accepted as lunatics has been adhered to, but that
the rule that patients whose friends are able to pay for their maintenance should
not be received without payment has not in all cases been followed. A strenuous
effort has been made to give effect to the second rule, but the Chief Commis-
sioner has found he cannot enforce it, except in cases in which the "friends"
able to pay for the maintenance of the lunatic are also relatives bound by law to
support him. In such cases the Superintendent has been instructed to take legal
measures to enforce payment, and orders have been issued to District Magistrates
with a similar object. In cases of lunatics sent to the asylum by magisterial
order who have friends who are able, though not legally bound, to support them,
and who refuse either to pay for their support or to take charge of them, it seems
impracticable either to turn the lunatic adrift or to compel his friends to support
him.
2. From the statistics appended to the report, it appears that 58 lunatics
(males 50 and females 8) were admitted to the asylum in 1879 : of these, 12
came from criminal and 46 from non-criminal classes, 21 were natives of the
country, 18 were natives of India, six were Europeans, two East Indians, while the
remaining 11 belonged to other nationalities; 13 were coolies, the poverty of
the class and the insufficiency of their diet rendering these men, in Dr. Johnstone's
opinion,' especially liable to insanity. Forty-one of the patients admitted were
between the ages of 20 and 40, 14 were between the ages of 40 and 60, two were
under 20, and one over 60. It may be noted here that Statement No. III., which
should show the religions of patients, shows their nationalities instead. This
should be rectified in future reports.
3. The statements showing the types of insanity among the patients treated,
and the causes alleged for it, present no especial feature of interest. Out of 253
patients treated, 106 were suffering from acute mania, 38 from melancholia, 32 from
acute dementia, 30 from imbecility, and 27 from chronic mania. The causes of
insanity were entirely unknown in 96 cases. Of the remaining 157 cases, 24 are
said to have resulted from " grief," 21 from the use of ganja, 18 from domestic