95
time. This year new admissions were not sent at once to the huts which they were
to occupy while in camp, but were first set apart in a block specially reserved for
all new comers. Here their persons, clothes and belongings were disinfected with
all possible care, after which they were allowed to take possession of the huts
assigned to them in the camp, This ensured personal cleanliness and minimized the
risk of infection in the camp itself. Then again, last year, persons who stayed in
camp over 10 days were liable to pay a small charge for rent, but this time this
was done away with and people were allowed to stay rent free for so long as their
houses continued unfit for habitation, after which they were obliged to leave.
The management of the camps which I had to inspect gave me every satisfaction.
They were well kept and tidy and the strictest cleanliness prevailed. The Camp
Masters did their duties carefully and regularly. Latterly I was for a very short
time placed in medical charge of the P. W. D. Secretariat Gump. Here there
was much room for improvement in point of cleanliness, and unfortunately there
was no responsible person in charge of it who could look after things generally and
prevent plague or suspicious cases from coming in.
I had also to inspect the Daiwadnya Private Camp medically. Everything
was in good order and there was no case of plague throughout.
In conclusion it seems to me to be now established beyond doubt that these
Health Camps are one of our best weapons for fighting the plague. Well
situated in open localities, kept up with scrupulous care and cleanliness, they have
a decidedly beneficial effect on the health of their occupants. A glance at the
foregoing tables will show that the percentage of disease and deaths in these camps
was very insignificant in view of the fact that the large number of daily
admissions cume straight not only from highly infected localities, but
from houses and rooms in which plague had actually occurred within a day or
two of their arrival in camp.
Private
Camps
The origin of organised private canips was described in last year'«
report. The communities which started private camps during the y ear
under report were for the most part the same, and the privats camps
along the Kennedy Sea Face and in A Ward were as before placed
under the supervision of a Special Inspector with a staff of scavengers,
halalkhores, &c.
The Pathare Prabhu Health Camp was as before the best
managed and an extract from the report of tfye Honorary Secretary,
Rao Bahadur Dhakji Kashinath, to whom every credit is due, is given
below:—
As last year, with the permission of the Municipality, Camp No. 1 was erected,
on the Kennedy Sea Face, near the Marine Lines, and Camp No. 2 near the Hindu
Gymkhana.
The Municipality, as last year, provided latrines, washing places, water-taps, tubs
for cook-room waste water, and lights; providing also conservancy establishment
and police ramosis. This year two large iron tanks were supplied for storage of
water as there was no sufficient pressure to deliver the requisite quantity from the
existing main pipe there.
In addition to the Municipal arrangements, we erected this year at our cost
several urinals of a pattern most suitable to our people. This practically stopped
the nuisance outside the urinals and all about the compound walls of the camps,