CALCUTTA MEDICAL INSTITUTIONS.
7. It has also been arranged that the Health Officer's report shall be sent
to me for review; but as it is not published until later in the year, th
e
figures cannot be compared with the sickness treated in Calcutta medical insti-
tutions as detailed in this report, but must be dealt with in connection with the
Health Officer's returns when they appear. In this connection I would add that
the report of the Health Officer of the Port of Calcutta, who has now been
subordinated to the Inspector-General of Civil Hospitals, has been already
submitted to Government and the following notes are condensed from my
analysis of it.
8. Public Health in the Port of Calcutta.—The health of European seamen
was remarkably good, there having been only 1.62 deaths per 1,000 from
cholera, with a total mortality of 15.42 per mille, or fewer with two exceptions
than in any year since 1883.
9. The admission rate per 1,000 into hospital in 1898 for venereal
diseases was 95.7, or lower than in any year since 1888.
10. The sickness and mortality amongst natives was also lower than usual.
11. No case of plague was found in any vessel arriving from plague-
infected ports, though one man connected with the shipping, a Customs officer,
was reported to be suffering from plague. The officer's duties did not place
him in contact with the cargo. The vessel was placed in quarantine. There
is no reason to believe that his disease had any connection with the vessel.
12. There was a decrease in the number of corpses and carcasses which
were found floating in the river.
13. Careful attention was paid to the water-supply and quality of food,
as well as to the conservancy of cargo-boats. Some of the latrines are in a most
unsatisfactory state, and the Health Officer will be instructed to represent the
defects to the Port Commissioners and other persons who are concerned with a
view to remedying them.
14. The work of the year has been unusually arduous owing to the
regulations in connection with the prevention and detection of plague, and the
Health Officer, his locum tenens and his assistants appear to have performed their
duties under these circumstances with zeal and efficiency.
15. Numbers treated in hospitals. — Outdoor patients. —The total number of
out-patients treated at all the hospitals fell off by 73,288, the figures having been
187,518, against 260,806 in the previous year. The large diminution was spread
over all the institutions, except the Presidency General Hospital, in which there
was an increase of 192. All the Superintendents report that the falling off was
due to the plague scare in the middle of the year, which not only made the people
leave the town in large numbers, but deterred the sick from attending the
hospitals. It is noticeable that the falling off took place among Hindus,
Mussulmans and those persons that are grouped under " Other classes." The
numbers of Europeans and Eurasians, on the other hand, increased, the figures
having been 5,906 and 31,699,. against 5,588 and 30,809, respectively, in 1897.
The inference therefore is that, under ordinary conditions, the general attendance
would have increased.
16. In-door patients. —The total number of house-patients was 23,732, or a
decrease of 5,223 as compared with
1897. The daily average number of
in-door patients also fell off. from
1,408 . 16 in 1897 to 1,266 . 74 in the
year under report. The increases
and decreases in the various hospitals
are indicated in the margin. The
Campbell Hospital shows by far the
largest falling off. The Superinten-
dent observes that in 1897 a large
number of sick paupers were admitted
into the hospital during the famine
which prevailed in that year. There
was no famine in the year under report, and the Superintendent states that
this circumstance, as well as the plague scare, accounts for the decrease in that
year. The falling off in the other institutions is attributed to the latter
cause. There was greater sickness among the members of the Police Force,
who suffered much from malarial fever during the last four months of the year,
the admissions to hospital from this cause having risen from 596 in 1897 to
3
Medical College Hospital-proper ...
—5
Eden Hospital
. . .
...
—182
Ezra ,,
...
...
+66
Eye ,,
. . .
...
—49
Presidency General Hospital
...
+77
Campbell Hospital
...
... —4,517
Police ,,
. . .
...
+434
Mayo ,,
. . .
. . .
—541
Chandney „
. . .
...
+3
Sambhu Nath Pandit Hospital,
Bhawanipur .... . .
—160
Dufferin Victoria Hospital
. . .
—36
Howrah General
,,
...
—313
T o t a l
...
—
5,223
B 2