REPORT ON THE RANGOON LUNATIC ASYLUM FOR THE YEAR 1894.
3
15. The asylum cells are on the whole satisfactory tenements for the crim-
inal lunatics. I think it would have been better if the cells in the new block
had been arranged so as to be back to back and to open out on to front veran-
dahs, instead of being built, as is the case, face to face with a central corridor
separating them. More sunlight and fresh air, agents of destruction to the bacillus
of tubercle—the bane of lunatic asylums—would have entered the cells if the back
to back plan had been adopted. The tier of cells which has yet to be built was
also in the first instance designed on the central corridor system, but the archi-
tect of the buildings has been requested to change the plan and build the cells
back to back.
16. Fault was found in last year's report with the condition of the floors
and walls of the asylum cottages. Some of the floors consisted of asphalt,
others of cement, and the rest of wood. It was shown that the pucca floors
were in many cases cracked and uneven, and consequently difficult, when soiled
with excrement, to be made clean.
17. The question as to the best material for the flooring of these asylum
cottages was fully considered in all its bearings by the Committee of Visitors,
and the decision arrived at was that, of all substances, wood is the most suitable.
18. Much of the pucca flooring of the cottages has recently been removed,
and almost every cottage in the asylum is now floored with wood.
19. In reviewing the asylum Administration Report for 1893, the Govern-
ment of India recommended the adoption of floors consisting of from 3 to 6
inches of rammed dry earth, and the Chief Commissioner has requested that a
trial be made of such floors.
20. The state of the cottage walls has received consideration, and pro-
posals for bringing them into a more secure condition will shortly be submitted.
21. During the day the lunatics who are not employed in gardening or
other out-door occupations are confined in sheds with open battened walls. It
was pointed out in last year's report that the day accommodation provided for
the lunatics was inadequate to their requirements.
Although additions have been made to this accommodation by the erection
of two new day sheds, the extent of the shelter afforded is still insufficient.
In the wet weather this scantiness of shelter gives rise, from a hygienic
point of view, to considerable inconvenience, and it is to be hoped that, during
the present year, the necessity for still further increasing the day accommoda-
tion for the lunatics will be admitted, and steps taken to bring it into closer
correspondence with the strength of the asylum population.
22. Besides more shed accommodation for the safe-keeping and protection
of the lunatics during the day, it was brought to notice in last year's report
that some cells for violent females were necessary ; that a ward in which sup-
posed lunatics could be placed under observation was needed; and also that a
want was felt for suitable strong-rooms for dangerous patients.
The representations made have not been overlooked. Plans for four cells
for the confinement of dangerous females have been drawn out; and the considera-
tion of the Public Works Department is being given to the matter of the strong-
rooms.
Further progress would doubtless have taken place if the extensive addi-
tions made to the asylum, which have been described in the preceding para-
graphs, had not, throughout the year, been engaging constant attention.
23. The desirability of having wooden strong-rooms, designed on the lines
recommended, was recently emphasized in a striking manner by an acute maniac
partially dismantling with his hands the walls of one of the brick cells. The
Executive Engineer reported that the lunatic in question must have possessed a
weapon, but the asylum subordinates were equally positive that the destruction
was effected with the maniac's unaided hands.
24. A beginning has not yet been made with the new hospital, but a plan
of the building, which is to be a masonry edifice with two stories, has been laid
before the Committee.