patient per annum, against Rs. 22-5-6 at the
Dufferin Victoria Hospital. Yet Howrah
has a large number of European patients
and a good many surgical cases. The
Campbell, Police and Mayo Institutions run
very closely together with totals Rs. 7-4-8,
Rs. 5-5-11 and Rs. 6-3-4 respectively.
At the Medical College Hospital the rate is Rs. 16-8-9, while the Presidency
Rs. A. P.
Medical College Hospital ... ... 14 14 9
Presidency General Hospital ... 45 4 7
Campbell Hospital
... ... 6 14 9
Police Hospital
... ... 4 13 4
Mayo Institutions
... ... 4 7 2
Dufferin Victoria Hospital ... ... 22 2 9
Howrah General Hospital ... ... 4 3 3
26
REPORT ON THE
further reduce the incidence per head. The difficulty of drawing comparisons
is further illustrated by the fact that at the Mayo Hospital only Rs. 525 of the
Superintendent's pay is charged to the Hospital, at Howrah nothing, the Civil
Surgeon giving his services free, while at the Campbell Hospital there is an
allowance of Rs. 300.
56. Compounders and dressers —might be expected to cost much the same
in different institutions, yet they show the
apparent variations noted. These are
partially explained by differences in book-
keeping. At the Police Hospital, for in-
stance, a clerk on Rs. 20 is included, and the
amount per capita sinks to Rs. 3-9-7 when
he is excluded, a not unreasonable sum,
considering the small number of patients. Howrah includes both clerks and nurses
under this head, and the rate is reduced to Rs. 7-0-4 when they are omitted. The
Campbell Hospital figures also include nurses, clerks, diet sarkars, and engine-
driver; and the cost of compounders and dressers proper is only Rs. 1-6-10.
57. Menial Servants. —The enormous differences in the relative cost as
Rs. A. P.
Medical College Hospital ... ... 2 13 1
Presidency General Hospital ... 2 14 9
Campbell
... ... 6 11 11
Police
. . .
. . . 6 0 0
Mayo Institutions
... ... 2 9 3
Dufferin Victoria Hospital
. . . 4 15 10
Howrah
... ... 23 7 9
shown in the margin are due to the
totally different conditions of the institu-
tions. These servants are required chiefly
for in-patients, and the branch dispensaries
of the Mayo Hospital, most of which treat
out-patients only, have an almost nominal
expenditure under this head, thereby re-
ducing the figures for the Mayo Hospital. Taken by itself, the Mayo figures are
Rs. 13-14-8. Calculated on in-patients only, the rate would be Rs. 45-0-6.
This calculation would be quite unfair, as many of the servants are required
for out-patients, but it affords another good illustration of the difficulties
in the way of valid comparisons. The rate at the Medical College Hospital
amounts to Rs. 46-13 if the calculation is confined to in-patients. The
Superintendent of the Presidency General Hospital explains his high figures
by saying that in a hospital largely devoted to paying patients a niggardly
regard for economy would defeat its own object by interfering with its
popularity and so lowering the receipts. As will be shown hereafter, there
has been an enormous increase in those of late years, and the cost to Govern-
ment has fallen from 88.99 per cent of the total expenditure in 1877, to 52.79
per cent. in 1893. The standard of comfort which Surgeon-Lieutenant-Colonel
Crombie has strenuously endeavoured to increase, is decidedly higher than in
the Medical College Hospital, and this, of course, involves a larger expenditure.
I have gone carefully through the list of servants, and find that it can hardly be
reduced without sacrifice of efficiency. As a matter of fact, the Superintendent
is working with ten fewer servants than the number sanctioned by Government,
and thereby saving Rs. 84 a month. The exceptional figures at the Presidency
General Hospital are thus, I think, accounted for and justified.
58. Bazar medicines—present the variations noted in the table. From
R s . A. P.
Medical College Hospital ... ... 23 9 4
Presidency General Hospital ... 75 6 1 0
Campbell Hospital
... ... 18 5 0
Police Hospital
... ... 19 3 3
Mayo Institutions
... ... 4 13 2
Dufferin Victoria Hospital ... ... 32 5 2
Howrah General Hospital ...
. . . 15 14 5
Rs. A. P.
Medical College Hospital ... ... 1 10 0
Presidency General Hospital
. . . 2 9 4
Campbell Hospital
... ... 0 5 11
Police Hospital
... ... 0 8 7
Mayo Institutions
... ... 1 12 2
Dufferin Victoria Hospital ... ... 0 2 9
Howrah General Hospital ... ... 7 3 5
this it might be inferred that the Dufferin
Hospital is most economically, and the
Howrah Hospital most extravagantly,
managed. The true inference is exactly
the reverse of this, as is seen when we
consider the next item.
59. European Medicines. —Taking these and country medicines together,
Howrah spends only Rs. 11-6-8 for each