4
REPORT ON THE RANGOON LUNATIC ASYLUM FOR THE YEAR 1897.
This shows a great advance on previous years. The increase in amount of milk
used in the asylum is due to freer issues being made to the sick and debilitated.
There is no food which is so easily assimilated as milk and nothing so suitable to
the feeble digestion of the insane. Many of the sick are practically and entirely
dieted on milk only. With the increased dairy the amount spent on sundries has
risen.
10. General treatment.—There
has been little or no change under this
head. More liberty has been allowed to those sane who were found capable of
being trusted. The inmates were encouraged to get up amusements among them-
selves ; an attempt to raise a " Socker " football team was not a success.
A pwè was given to the asylum in December 1897 and invitations were
issued to outsiders to join in it. This proved such a success that several others
were held, the general public being allowed in paying one anna a head. The
popularity of these pwès, which last from 10 A.M. to 4 P.M., became so great that
as many as 600 to 700 people would be waiting outside the gates. These enter-
tainments will in future be entirely self-supporting and will, I hope, even prove
profitable enough to enable me to start other amusements. I need not say the
pwès are well appreciated by the inmates of the asylum, and they will enable the
Superintendent and others to bring pressure on the lazy ones to work better by
not allowing those who fail to work (but can do so) to enjoy the privilege. In
time it may be possible to have entertainments entirely carried out by the inmates
themselves. Attempts were also made to make certain of the insane to take
walks (under escort) outside the asylum walls, and there is no doubt the change of
surroundings was of service, and this will be continued.
11. Medical treatment.—There
has been no change under this head.
There was an unusual number of patients who required forcible feeding ; about
55 individuals were so treated; 20 days was the longest period for which the
feeding tube had to be used ; the average being about 10 or 12 days.
12. Escapes.—There were only four escapes. Three were civil lunatics,
one from a file working in a private garden, one from his escort while being con-
ducted along the road, and one from the out-file carting in river sand. The
criminal lunatic escaped from the new block of cells just after lock up. The
particulars of the escape from the criminal enclosure are as follows:—
The lunatic in question, Nga Po Thin, had been sane for some time ; but three
days previous to his escape he had relapsed and, showing a tendency to sudden
violence, he was confined most of the day in his cell, being allowed out now and
again for exercise only under supervision. He was inclined to be very dangerous.
On the evening of the 10th December he was taken out to the latrine and brought
back to his cell, which was in the lower corridor of the new block. The warder
evidently handed over the keys to some of the cured lunatics to close and lock the
cell doors while he took not the slightest care to supervise the operation. The
bolt on Po Thin's cell was badly shot home and did not catch the slots of the door.
Later, when the warder left the lower corridor to attend to the wants of a man
upstairs, the lunatic slipped out, made his way into the compound, out of which
escape over the low wall was not a matter of great difficulty.
In the former cases the warders were all fined for careless supervision and in
the latter two men were dismissed and one fined half month's pay. Two civil in-
sanes were recaptured.
13. Statements Nos. I and II, showing the admission, discharges, &c.—On
the 1st January 1897 there was a total population of 319, 129 were admitted and
70 discharged and 36 died : total on 31st December 1897, 342. Of the 129 ad-
missions 48 were criminals and 81 civil lunatics. Out of the former 14 were men
who had previously been in the asylum under section 466, Civil Procedure Code,
and readmitted after trial under section 471, Civil Procedure Code; of the 12
shown as discharged otherwise three were criminal lunatics, two being transferred
to jail on recovery to undergo the rest of their sentence and one escaped ; of the
remainder, eight civil lunatics were transferred to various Indian asylums and one
escaped.