4
REPORT ON THE RANGOON LUNATIC ASYLUM FOR THE YEAR 1896.
Patients incapable of work of any kind are led out of their sheds twice daily and
given walking exercise in the open air.
11. Medical treatment.— No kind of mechanical restraint besides confine-
ment in cells (when necessary) has been made use of, and very few instances have
occurred in which this treatment has been required. Forcible feeding with a
rubber tube and funnel has been resorted to in the case of 12 patients only, who
persistently refused to take food.
The chief hypnotic drugs used were paraldehyde and hyoseyamine. In
accordance with instructions contained in the note by the Director-General,
Indian Medical Service, on the reports of lunatic asylums under local Govern-
ment and Administrations for the year 1895, during the unhealthy months of the
year, September to December, proplylactic mixtures of quinine and iron were
given twice a day to the weekly and convalescent gang and apparently with good
effect.
12. Escapes.—There were four escapes during the year, fewer than in any
year since 1891. All were civil insanes ; three were returned to the asylum from
the town by the police within a few days. The fourth man was a young Karen,
who had no mental defect but sufferred from an impediment in his speech and
would shortly have been recommended by me for discharge as sane. The
warders in fault were fined for carelessness.
13. Statements Nos. I and II, showing the admission, discharges, &c.—On
the 1st January the total population of the asylum was 350, of which number 163
were criminals. On the 10th June 27 criminals were transferred to the Rangoon
Central Jail whilst 28 new cells for criminals were being built. On the 25th
November when the cells were completed 41 criminals were received from the
jail, so that at the end of the year the asylum contained practically all the criminal
lunatics in the province, 154 in number; from paragraph 2 it will be seen that this
is exactly the number of cell accommodation for criminal males. If from this
number 11 criminal females be deducted it will be seen that for the first time for
many years the asylum possessed more than sufficient accommodation for male
criminal lunatics. Of six discharged "otherwise" in statement No. I, four crimi-
nal lunatics (confined under section 31, Prisons Act) were transferred from the
criminal to the civil register, their sentences having expired; one civil lunatic
escaped and one civil lunatic was transferred from the civil to the criminal register,
having been sent here by the Magistrate as a civil lunatic erroneously.
14. In last year's report the Inspector-General of Jails, with Civil Medical
Administration, contrasted the smaller daily average populations of criminal lunatics
in the Indian asylums with that of the Rangoon asylum. The chief reason why
this is so is that insanity is more generally prevalent in Burma than elsewhere.
According to the Census of India 1891, and I find on examining the returns of
criminal lunatics for the eleven years 1885—95 that the average annual admissions
in Burma were 26.5, Bombay 24, Punjab 19, Madras 32, and Bengal 72 ; so that
Bengal with ten times the civil population of Burma admitted less than three times
the number admitted in Burma during those years, and the other provinces like-
wise admitted far less than Burma in proportion to population.
15. In Statement No. II the number of criminals who died and were discharged
is given. During the eleven years 1886—96 the average annual admissions of cri-
minal lunatics has been 28, with 8.2 deaths and 13.5 discharges, giving a steady
yearly increase of 6 or 7, so that in two years more the question of additional ac-
comodation will have to be considered; as shown in paragraph 2 there are 11
vacant cells for male criminals. During the years 1886—94 only 11 criminals were
on an average annually discharged, whilst in 1895 and 1896 16 and 32 were thus
dealt with. Again, during the six years 1889—94 only 15 lunatics confined under
section 466 were sent up for trial, whereas in 1895 and 1896 16 and 24 were so
sent up.
Less can be done to curtail the sojourn of criminal lunatics in an asylum
than in the case of civil lunatics, but those who have committed offences not
against the person might, I think, in future, should they recover or improve, spend
less time in the asylum than hitherto and be discharged (see sections 37 and 38 of
the report by the Bengal Committee appointed in 1887).