12
ANNUAL REPORT ON LUNATIC ASYLUMS.
against 6 of the previous year. Of these 3 were received into the asylum in a
moribund condition.
12. Epidemics and how they were dealt with.—In the Vizagapatam
and Calicut Asylums there were no epidemics.. In the Madras Asylum the
cholera which broke out at the end of 1894 continued until the 9th February
1895, caused as stated above 37 deaths in the year under report. In addition to
this there was a mild outbreak of small-pox. There were six cases, all of them
being females. They all recovered. Isolation, disinfection, and vaccination and
re-vaccination of all the unprotected cases were at once attended to.
13. Injuries received in the Asylums.—In the Vizagapatam Asylum
there were eight self-inflicted injuries, four inflicted by other insanes, one case
of a doubtful nature. The last one was a simple fracture of the lower jaw on
a chronic maniac. This man, on inquiry was said to have struggled hard with
two warders who had called another patient to their assistance but when the
injury occurred was not known. The warders were punished. The other cases
were all of a trivial nature.
In the Madras Asylum no self-inflicted injury occurred during the year. A
few instances of scalp-wounds, &c, caused by insanes on each other, occurred;
these were all very slight. The only serious injury that occurred was to a criminal
lunatic who climbed up a tamarind tree, fell down and fractured his left thigh, he
recovered from this. In the Calicut Asylum there were five or six cases of minor
injuries inflicted by insanes on each other. On one occasion a female keeper and a
male toty had to be fined Us. 2 and 1, respectively, for neglecting two patients.
14. Hospital diets and extras.—In all the asylums the diet scale laid
down in G.O., No. 1, Public, dated 1st January 1889, was in use.
The following table exhibits the average cost of each diet of different classes
both paying and non-paying insanes and hospital diets :—
Asylums.
Paying i nsanes.
Ordinary Insanes.
Hospital Diet.
Europeans.
Natives.
Europeans.
Natives.
Europeans.
Natives.
RS. A. P.
RS. A. P.
RS. A. P.
RS.
A. p.
RS. A. P.
RS. A. P.
Vizagapatam
None.
0 1 5f
None.
0 1 If
None.
0 1 3
Madras
...
0 7 8£
0 2 H
0 5 5
0 2 2
0 5 I
0 2 7f
Calicut
...
None.
0 3 5
None.
0 2 2
None.
0 3 7f
In the Madras Asylum the Superintendent reports that this scale of diet,
though it has increased the expenditure on diet and extras, has come up to the expec-
tations formed of it. Considering the very miserable condition in which patients
were constantly being received into the asylum, the Superintendent says the expend-
iture should be considered small, as it requires great care to diet them properly. In
Calicut all weekly patients have been placed on hospital diets. The cost of diet has
been high, Rs. 2,051-3-6 against Rs. 825 in the year 1894. This heavy rise in
expenditure is accounted for as due to an increased number of sick and weakly
patients being placed on hospital diet; the average daily sick rose from 15*07
to 22'57. The Superintendent reports that this scale of diets suits the patients
well and, though expensive, does away with the necessity for extras. The extras
in the year 1894 cost Rs. 428-5-4, whereas in the year 1895 they cost only
Rs. 177-12-2. .
15. Nursing of the sick.—In Vizagapatam the nursing of the sick has been
carried out by the ordinary attendants under the supervision of the Hospital Assis-
tant. In Madras there was no trained nursing establishment during the year under
report, the current year has started with two trained nurses, and the nursing of
the sick was consequently very unsatisfactory, inasmuch as it had to be done by
ordinary native attendants who are, as a rule, a very unreliable set of men. In
Calicut the sick are nursed during the day by an attendant specially detailed for
the purpose, and during the night, by the watchman on duty, but under the supei'*
vision of the Resident Hospital Assistant,