Report of the Principal Civil Medical Officer and Inspector-General of Hospitals / [Ceylon].

  • Ceylon. Civil Medical Department
Date:
[1908]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Report of the Principal Civil Medical Officer and Inspector-General of Hospitals / [Ceylon]. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    17/32 (page 8)
    a month’s sentence were given penal No. 2 diet, which consists of 8 oz. bread, 12 oz. rice, 4 oz. fish, 3 oz. plantains, jaggery, and pepper broth. The sick- and death-rates have improved since. 54. K'anatta Infectious Diseases Hospital.—There were 1,739 cases of infectious diseases treated at this institution during 1908, as against 855 cases during 1907. The average daily sick was 02* 74. Tiie diseases included smallpox 608 cases, enteric fever 150, cholera 14, acute diarrhoea 41, diphtheria 1, and the remainder were diseases of a mild infectious nature. New temporary wards for Moorish women, paying patients, were erected during the year. 55. Victoria Home for Incurables, Colombo.—At this institution 67 cases remained at the end of last year, which, with 10 cases admitted during 1908, made a total of 77. Of these, 13 died, 4 were discharged, and 60 remained at the end of 190S. 56. Bacteriological Institute.—The total number of specimens examined during the year was 2,342, being 402 in excess of last year. The fees represented Rs. 839*50. 57. Total Deaths.—The total deaths numbered 9,352, against 9,856 in 1907, showing a decrease of 504. A table showing the death-rate percent, in the various hospitals and asylums in the Island for the year as compared with last year is annexed; the death-rates among the mixed races and Malabars have been shown separately :— Mixed Races. Malabars. Total. Hospitals. 1007. 190S. 1907. 1908. 1907. 1908. Civil 8*11 7*87 .. 20-10 .. 18-41 .. 11-28 .. 10-47 Field 4*52 4-77 .. 15-21 .. ] 3 • 55 6 46 G- 29 Immigrant 4-39 4-32 8*94 .. 6-12 5-39 4-74 District G- 43 6*44 .. 25*56 21-59 .. 22-14 .. 16-64 Asylums 9*62 .. 15*66 7*97 .. 7*36 9-44 .. 14-87 Other Hospitals — 7*71 — 9-64 — 7-9S 7 * 58 7*68 22*34 19-41 12-9S 11-64 58. Hospital Accommodation. —This was generally sufficient. O vercrowding took place of the hospitals of the planting districts. With the exception of the following institutions : Matale, Jaffna, Dambulla, Mannar, Puttalam, Chilaw, Xikaweratiya, Balangoda, Trincomalee, and Dandugama, the water was reported to be good, pure, wholesome, and abundant. Water for drinking purposes is, as a rule, filtered before use. Water supply schemes for Xanu-oya,' Balangoda, Tillicoultry, and Uda Pussellawa arc under consideration. All hospitals are provided with separate bathrooms for males and females and furnished with tubs or douches. Patients who can help themselves prefer to bathe in streams when there are such adjoining a hospital. The drains are surface ones for carrying away ward washings and storm water. The conservancy of the latrines is entirely on the dry-earth system. The excreta is removed daily and buried or incinerated at some distance from the hospitals. Doulton’s earthenware squatting* plates have been introduced into most of the hospitals. 59. Inspection.—The hospitals were all inspected either by me or the Provincial Surgeons of the respective Provinces. The number of these visits of inspection and the official designation of the visitors will be found given in the return of each institution. The books were produced when called for, arid were generally found complete and made up to the date of examination. The reports of inspection by the Provincial Surgeons as well as those by me were forwarded to Government when necessary. 60. Food Supply.—The provisions for the various hospitals were supplied by purveyors on contract approved by Government. This system works satisfactorily. The medical officers in charge of the respective hospitals examine the food before it is served out to the patients, and reject such articles as do not come up to contract samples ; contractors offering inferior articles are fined. 61. Dispensaries.—581 dispensaries, including branch institutions and visiting stations, were in operation. Of these, 343 were civil, 52 district, and 186 estate. They are distributed as follows :— lu the Western Province 42, Central 62. Northern 50, Southern is, Eastern 43, North-Western 46, Nort h ('cutnil 38. Province of I va 31, and Province of Snbaragamuwa 32, and on estates 186. In the civil and district dispensaries then' were treated 1,321,002 persons who paid 1,902,715 visits, agaiuM 1,267.74s persons who paid 1,706,460 \isits in 1007. 62. Tort Duties and hnmigration. The number of vessels which arrived at the port of Colombo was 3,202, against 3,274 in 1907. 877 vessels wore “healthy’' working in quarantine, 15 vessels w ere in strict quarantine. The number of native passengers who arrived in Colombo during 1908 was 8S.762 miscellaneous deck passengers and 8S,7S8 estate coolies. Of these totals, 17,166 were vaccinated on arrival. 63. The port of Kayts in the Northern Province was opened to passenger traffic, on March 1, 1907, and was closed to passengers on May 31, 1908. 676 vessels were inspected during the year ; the number of passengers landed was 2.60S ; 57 vessels arrived from cholera-infected ports. 10 from smallpox- infected ports, and 4 from plague-infected ports. 64. Rayama Camp.—The number of coolies, passengers, and others who passed through the camp during 1908 was 89,751, against 56,294 in 1907. 31,619 coolies were vaccinated. 30 patients w-*re admitted during the year to the camp hospital, of which 9 were suffering from cholera. The .imitation of the camp was satisfactory ; the water supply is of good quality and in sufficient quantity. The night soil was incinerated. 65. Medical College.—The College contains lecture hall, students’ library, laboratories for -n.X.ry, physiology, biology, and pathology, a dissecting room, offices, photographic ro.oms; a museum. Colonial Medical Library, and a separate building for lady students containing sitting-room and 1 'd dissecting room. 118 medical students, 36 apothecary students, and 1 science student, equal ■ imM of 155, were on the roll at the end of the year, an increase of 22 over the number in 1907.