5
(4) The burial of plague patients in specified areas only, and cremation
in similar fashion,
(5) The removal of herds of cattle from the city site to enable the
premises occupied by the cattle to be kept in a sanitary condition.
(6) The thorough cleansing of both road-side and underground drains,
involving considerable expenditure and the temporary removal of the Otas
which, by projecting into the street over the road-side drain, in many cases
turn the latter into a closed cess-pit of a most insanitary description.
Segregation of Patients and
their Families.
15. It is perhaps only necessary to add that the enforcement of segrega-
tion in the case of plague patients and their families,
and the disinfection of the premises on which a case
had occurred, were carried out in a thoroughly ade-
quate manner without evoking any serious opposition. Patients, promptly
removed to the hospital in dhulies kept ready with bearers for instant use,
were well cared for, and allowed to be attended by members of their family if
they so desired. The latter were segregated at the
Siddhi Bágh Hospital. Houses were disinfected by
the removal of the roof, the digging up of the floor
earth to a depth of a foot or so from the surface, and
the use of quicklime and carbolic acid.
Disinfection of Premises
where a case of Plague had
occurred.
16. Finally the Municipality arranged to secure proper death certificates
for all persons dying within municipal limits, and to prevent the removal of sick
persons through the town gates unless specially authorised. In this they were
assisted by the special registration staff previously posted at the railway station
and on the roads but withdrawn to the City Gates to control road arrivals, from
the date of enforcement of quarantine.
Special
House-to-house
Inspection in Nagar City.
17. The last step taken by the Municipality was the organization of a
house-to-house inspection by the school-masters of
the town in the middle of the mouth of April. The
school-masters, being men of good caste, were readily
admitted everywhere. Their inspections were directed to ascertaining how far
the houses had been cleaned and whitewashed, and whether any suspicious cases
of illness were being concealed. In all 57 school-masters, assisted by 3 Govern-
ment clerks, were employed. A special Form (Appendix III) was supplied to
them for the recording of the results of their work. In this way 6,159 houses were
visited and 29,581 persons inspected ; 96 cases of illness were reported and
subsequently certified not to be bubonic plague, and finally many sanitary
defects in the houses were brought to notice and formed the subject of orders
from the Municipal Executive. The conception of this scheme of inspection
originated with the Vice-Président of the Municipality, and the measure was
carried out, there is good reason to believe, in a thorough and searching manner,
for which much credit is due to those concerned.
Preparation for a possible
outbreak during the monsoon.
18. Here may well be concluded the account of precautionary measures
taken to protect Ahmednagar from the plague. It
should be added that when at the end of May the
disease seemed nearly extinct in Bombay and Poona
the following steps had been taken to render the town and district fit to cope
with a possible recrudescence of the plague during the wet weather.
(1) Ahmednagar City and Suburbs had undergone a thorough cleans-
ing, and were in a better sanitary condition than they had ever been before.
(2) Two plague hospitals were ready for immediate use, one a masonry
building in the Siddhi Bágh, to which additional accommodation was attach-
ed in the shape of matting sheds, and the other a matting shed hospital
near the station. The temporary structures were double roofed and covered
with strong tarpaulins to render them thoroughly weather proof. Two
other permanent buildings, offered as caste hospitals, were held in reserve.
(3) A camp of observation, consisting of similar temporary struc-
tures and completely fitted for immediate use, was ready at the station.
This would accommodate between three and four hundred persons.
B 1090—2