Report on the Lunatic Asylums in the Bombay Presidency for 1887.
No. 1375.
GENERAL DEPARTMENT.
Bombay Castle, 1st May 1888.
Letter from the Surgeon General with the Government of Bombay, No. S.B.—111, dated
23rd March 1888—Submitting the Annual Administration Report of the Lunatic
Asylums in the Bombay Presidency for the year 1887.
RESOLUTION.—The number of Lunatic Asylums in the Presidency remained
unchanged during the year, nor was any addition made to the accommodation
they contain. The relief afforded by the opening of the Ratnágiri Asylum in
1886 was fully felt, and there is still accommodation available there and at
Colába. On the other hand the institutions at Poona and Dhárwár, though
enlarged in the same year, have been fully occupied.
2. The average daily strength of the inmates was 679.2 (556.4 males
and 122.8 females) as against 653.2 in the previous year, an increase due to the
extension of accommodation referred to in the preceding paragraph. The total
number of inmates was 913, of whom 671 were in residence on the 1st of January,
222 were newly admitted during the year, and 20 re-admitted. Of these
176 were discharged and 54 died, while there remained in confinement at the
close of the year 683. The mortality was not excessive though rather greater
than in the past two years.
3. Of criminal lunatics 123 were in confinement during the year as against
114 in 1886, of whom 113 were men and 10 women. Fourteen of these were
discharged and 8 died, leaving 101 upon the 31st of December, 3 more than
the number with which the year opened.
4. As regards the types of insanity and its causes the statistics given
tell no new tale. Gánja still claims its large share of victims to mental
disease, 154 cases out of 365 in which it has been possible to clearly assign a
physical cause to the malady being attributable to it.
5. Deducting the amounts received on account of paying patients, and the
value of articles manufactured by the inmates the total net cost of the asylums
for the year was Rs. 1,05,130-11-10 or Rs. 154-12-6 per head. His Excellency
in Council marks with satisfaction that these figures show a considerable re-
duction from those of 1886, in which year the total cost of the asylums was
Rs. 1,14,816-11-5, and the net cost per head was Rs. 175-12-4, while in 1885,
the latter was Rs. 186-9-7. These results point to much extravagance in the
past administration of these institutions, nor does a comparative examination of
the returns of the different asylums preclude the expectation that in some the
limits of economy have not yet been reached, the example of Hyderabad,
making all allowance for the comparatively large number of patients over
whom the cost of establishment is distributed, showing what can be effected in
this direction by careful management. The thanks of Government should be
given to all those officers of the department who have by their careful supervi-
sion contributed to the above satisfactory results, especially to Surgeons-Major
Robb and Keelan, who have been especially attentive to the management of the
asylums committed to their care.
E. LAWRENCE,
Acting Under Secretary to Government.
To
The Surgeon General with the Government of Bombay,
The Sanitary Commissioner,
The Commissioner, N. D.,
The Commissioner, C. D.,
The Commissioner, S. D.,
The Commissioner in Sind,
The Collectors of Ahmedabad, Poona, Dhárwár
and Ratnágiri,
The Collectors and Deputy Commissioners in Sind,
The Military Department of the Secretariat,
The Public Works Department of the Secretariat.
The Government of India,
The Secretary of State for India.
With copies of the
report.
By letter.