Report on the public health administration of Burma : 1934.

  • Burma. Department of Public Health
Date:
[1934]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Report on the public health administration of Burma : 1934. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    33/188 (page 23)
    and to establish a colony. It is disappointing to record that up to now the difficulties of securing a site have not been solved. Suitable sites are available near Meiktila, but the prejudice, organised or otherwise, of the local villagers against the establishment of a leper colony near them has held matters up. The- Burma Branch of the British Empire Leprosy Relief Association is ready to help the colony with a grant, and in fact has already handed over some money for the sinking of a well. In Monywa, the excellent record of the leper colony, which was established there in 1927, has been maintained and at the end of the year there were 60 resident patients. In Kengtung in the Southern Shan States, a colony is run by a Roman Catholic Mission and at the end of the year 82 patients were living in it. 32. Venereal Disease.—The venereal disease statistics of this Department, relating only as they do to deaths, afford no criterion of the incidence of venereal disease in the province. Widely varying estimates have been made as to the degree to which it prevails. Hospital statistics afford little clue, as it is believed that only a small percentage seek treatment there, a large number being treated by quacks. The figures obtained from the post-mortem room of the Rangoon General Hospital show that out of 791 cases examined in 1934,166 or 21 per cent, showed pathological signs of syphilis. The superintendent of the Mandalay hospital sent regularly, from September 1933 onwards, specimens of placental blood taken in the labour room from apparently healthy patients. These were subjected to the Kahn Test and 21'8 per cent, were found positive. Similar examinations of placental blood from the Dufferin Hospital, Rangoon, revealed 3T per cent, as positive to the Wassermann Test. The following remarks are taken from the various annual reports : The District Health Officer, Henzada, states that the existence of the disease is very high and that all classes of the population are affected. There is a steadily growing desire on the part of syphilis patients for treatment with arsenical injections. Gonorrhoea is usually neglected and usually passes into the chronic stage. In Toungoo district, it is stated that the disease is spreading from the railway towns into the interior villages. The Deputy Commissioner, Myitkyina, comments on the large amount of serious venereal disease in the Fort Hertz hospital among Kachins. The medical officer of the hospital states that venereal disease is common among the Kachins, Nungs and other hill tribes, but that the Shans are comparatively free as their morals are very much better than those of the other frontier people. Of the towns, Syriam reports that 668 cases were treated in 1934 both indoor and outdoor, compared with 667 in the previous year. All treatments including arsenical injections were given free. Many of the reports from towns lay emphasis on the failure of patients to continue