No. G/2512.
FROM
COLONEL B. O'BRIEN, I.M.S.,
INSPECTOR GENERAL OF CIVIL HOSPITALS,
UNITED PROVINCES,
TO
THE SECRETARY TO GOVERNMENT,
UNITED PROVINCES.
Dated Lucknow, the 25th March 1904.
SIR,
I HAVE the honour to submit the annual statistics relating to the Lunatic
Asylums in these Provinces for the year 1903. The statements had been sent to
press before the receipt of G. O. No. 254/VI—529B, dated the 1st February
1904. They were recalled and compiled in accordance with the orders contained in
Government of India, Home Department, Resolution No. 21-31, dated 12th January
1904.
2. Statistical.—There has been a slight increase in the total population.
The daily average number of inmates in confinement shows an increase. There
was a slight falling off in the number of admissions as compared with that of the
previous year. The number cured shows a satisfactory increase. The health of
the inmates has been very good in all four Asylums, particularly in Lucknow.
3. An epileptic female lunatic in the Benares Asylum committed suicide by
drowning. The matter formed the subject of a magisterial inquiry and report.
There were two epidemics of influenza in this Asylum. The intense heat during
the months of June and July 1903 is responsible for three deaths.
4. Agra is a most unsuitable place for European lunatics. It is very hot,
much hotter than either Bareilly or Benares. The hot weather is now arriving,
and nothing can be done at present for those confined there. They occupy an enor-
mous amount of space, and until they are removed the whole of the native insanes
cannot be moved into the Asylum, and the intended central Asylum must be
held in abeyance. I am informed that the space now occupied by the few Euro-
pean insanes in Agra is sufficient for 287 natives. There is no suitable accom-
modation at Bareilly or Benares for European insanes. Proposals are under
consideration for the establishment of an asylum for Europeans at Chindwára in the
Central Provinces. This would seem to be an excellent solution of the question.
Some solution of the question is urgently needed, and the sooner it is put in hand
the better. If a scheme were now sanctioned and put through quickly, the Central
Asylum at Agra might possibly be opened on the 1st April 1905. I do not approve
of the low wall and iron railings
around the Asylum in parts. The top of
each bar of the rail ends thus
This, in my opinion, is a very dangerous
ending to the rails. There
should be a round knob on each rail, so that
by no possibility could lunatics
impale themselves on them in their attempts
to escape. I should say a nine feet high wall would be safer. The attendants
need not keep their eyes constantly on the railings as at present, but could keep watch
and ward over the lunatics and their doings, which they cannot very well do at present
as they have to watch the railings most assiduously. In the non-criminal female
enclosure there are little verandahs to each ward. Some of these face north,
some south, some east, and some west. A verandah is needed on the south side
of these little wards and cells, and if desirable another one on the other sides, but
obligatory on the south.
5. The new hospital at Benares has been finished. This is a first class hos-
pital, beautifully designed. People being sent into it may be expected to get
well, while, in the old hospital, gloomy and smelly, one there could not have much
prospect of recovery.
I have the honour to be,
SIR,
Your most obedient servant,
B. O'BRIEN, COLONEL, I.M.S.,
Inspector General of Civil Hospitals,
United Provinces.