3
FINANCES.
Expenditure and cost per inmate.
Statements Nos. VIII, IX and
X.
5. Excluding the receipts from paying patients which are credited to Government,
the total expenditure on both asylums was less than in the
previous year and the average cost per lunatic was also
less in both, being Rs. 105-10-9 against Rs. 107-4-2 at
Dacca and Rs. 97-5-4 against Rs. 111-12-5 at Tezpur.
Deducting the " charges on account of work done by the Public Works Department, "
" repairs and maintenance " and " rates and taxes, " the average cost per annum per
lunatic comes to Rs. 95-7-5 at Dacca and Rs. 95-2-11 at Tezpur against Rs. 97-10-1
and Rs. 111-2-3, respectively, in the previous year.
The average cost of diet per lunatic was also less in both asylums, being Rs. 55-9-5
against Rs. 57-13-7 at Dacca and Rs. 49-7-7 against Rs. 58-7-4 at Tezpur.
The charges on other heads of expenditure do not show much variation and do not
call for comment. There was a small increase at Dacca on medical stores due to a
large stock of medicines and instruments indented for; and, at Tezpur, on establish-
ment proper on account of the appointment of two temporary keepers and one
temporary sweeper.
The entertainment of a compounder was sanctioned for the Dacca Asylum hos-
pital from the 1st May 1910.
The profits on manufacture at Dacca amounted to Rs. 2,381-6-7 against
Rs. 2,371-0-3 in 1909, and at Tezpur Rs. 3,873-6-6 against Rs. 3,504-10-3. The
increase in the latter asylum is said to be due to the introduction of paddy husking by
females.
MISCELLANEOUS.
Accommodation.
6. There was no change in the capacity of the Dacca Asylum. The maximum
number confined in any one night was 251 males and 39
females. There was slight overcrowding among males
throughout the year. At Tezpur there is accommodation, including solitary
cells and hospitals, for 156 males and 33 females only, whereas the maximum
number confined in any one night was 209 males and 44 females. Apparently, there was
great overcrowding. The proposals submitted to Government last year for some
improvements have been administratively sanctioned and funds will be allotted by the
Public Works Department in 1911-1912.
General Remarks.
7. The Superintendents of the Asylums at Dacca and Tezpur and the Central Jail
at Dacca were requested to inquire into the prevalence of
tubercle in their asylums and in the Dacca Central Jail.
Their reports show that tubercle is more prevalent in lunatic asylums than in jails or
among the public generally, and this is chiefly due to exposure and privation before
admission and to the difficulty of carrying out rules of prevention, such as the prevention
of expectorating in wards, the disinfection and destruction of tubercular sputa, etc.,
after admission to the asylums ; there are very few instances that do not show signs of
chronic lung mischief when autopsies are made. I drew up a set of rules as to the pre-
cautions that should be taken to lessen the incidence of the disease, a copy of which was
forwarded to each of the Superintendents of the Lunatic Asylums at Dacca and Tezpur
and to the Superintendent of the Dacca Central Jail.
8. The practice of trenching night-soil in the garden of the Dacca Lunatic Asylum
has been discontinued and arrangements have been made with the Dacca Municipality
to remove the night-soil from the Asylum.
9. I have been thoroughly satisfied with the working of both asylums during the
year.
SHILLONG :
The 31st March 1911.
R. NEIL CAMPBELL, Colonel, I. M. S.,
Inspector General of Civil Hotpttals,
Eastern Bengal and Assam.