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

Ceylon. Civil Medical Department.

Date:: [1906]

Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

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

33/90 (page 31)

number vaccinated by the vaccinators, 5,879 were successful, 461 unsuccessful, and the result was not known in 907. Of those vaccinated at the dispensaries, 2,566 were successful, 432 unsuccessful, and the result was not known in 56. The total number of re-vaccinations done during the year was 5,392, of which 1,748 were successful, 476 unsuccessful, and the result was not known in 3,168. The percentage of successful to total inspected by the vaccinators was 92-72, and the percentage of successful to total inspected at the dispensaries 85*59. Hospitals. There are five hospitals in the Province, besides the Friend-in-Need Society’s Hospital in the town of Jaffna. Point Pedro Hospital.—846 patients were treated during the year, and the daily average sick was 33 • 52. The number of deaths was 18, showing a mortality of 2 • 12 per cent. Mullaittivu Hospital.—The total number of patients treated during the year was 469, of which 13 proved fatal, showing a mortality of 2*84 per cent. The daily average sick was 28*53. There was no overcrowding of the wards at any time. Vavuniya Hospital.—The total number of patients treated in this hospital during the year was 103, of which 16 died. The daily average sick was 4* 15, and the percentage of deaths to total treated 15*53. There was no overcrowding at any time. Mantota Hospital.—Total number treated during the year was 438, of which 34 died, showing a death-rate of 7 * 76 per cent. The daily average sick was 17*90. Mannar Hospital.—The total number of patients treated during the year was 394, of which 16 proved fatal, showing a mortality of 4 * 6 per cent. The daily average sick was 7*9. » j I •< Dispensaries. r Besides the dispensaries attached to the above-mentioned hospitals, there are thirty dispen¬ saries and fourteen visiting stations. During the year 16,647 patients were treated at the dispensaries, and the total amount collected, chiefly from voluntary contributions, was Rs. 242*64. The total number of patients treated in all the other dispensaries and itinerating stations was 63,012, and the total number of visits 100,791. The total collections of all these dispensaries, chiefly voluntary contributions, amounted to Rs. 1,560*39. i !i ;t Jail and Jail Hospital. : There is only one jail in this Province, that at Jaffna. There are lock-ups in Mannar, Mullaittivu, and Vavuniya, and no prisoners are confined in them for any length of time. The Jaffna Jail has accommodation for 120 prisoners, and it has two hospital wards, each capable of accommodating six patients. Within the walls of the jail there are six wells, but the water in them being hard and brackish, water for drinking and cooking is obtained from a well in the esplanade, situated about quarter of a mile away from the jail. I visited the jail frequently, and always found that its sanitary condition was very satisfactory. The total number of prisoners confined in the jail during the year w*as of convicted prisoners males 229, females 12. The largest number of prisoners on any one day was 146, and the average daily strength 102*69. The total number of prisoners treated in the jail hospital was 82, and the average daily sick 2*36. Although the returns show 82 having been admitted to the hospital, I find that in reality there were only 62 individual sick prisoners, and that some of them were admitted more than once. The diseases responsible for the largest number of admissions were malarial fevers, diarrhoea, debility, and dysentery. The cases of dysentery were of a mild form, and invariably recovered rapidly. Only one case proved fatal, death being due to cerebral abscess, following disease of the middle ear. Report of H. A. Keegel, L.R.C.P. (Edin.), Provincial Surgeon, Southern Province. I was in charge of the Province from January to March and from July till December. Return of Population. Estimated population of the Southern Province for 1906 Number of births registered in Southern Province during 1906 Number of deaths registered Birth-rate per 1,000 Death-rate per 1,000 569,740 23,931 20,927 42*0 36*9 Public Health. I regret to state that the public health throughout the year was unsatisfactory. Smallpox prevailed in the Hambantota-Tangalla District until the end of June, and was confined to that district alone, with the single exception that it encroached in one instance into the Matara District. The suppression of the outbreak was attended with much difficulty, reflecting the greatest credit on the zeal of the medical officers concerned. This was followed by a mild outbreak at Galle, which was speedily checked. The total number of cases treated in the Province was 83, with a mortality of 28, or 33 79 per cent. Cholera appeared in the Hambantota District in November. Three cases occurred in the town, and immediately after the whole village of Bundala, in the immediate vicinity ol the Bundala Lewaya, was infected. I was on the spot promptly, and received much assistance from Dr. YY . Marge no u t, Medical Officer, Hambantota, and the Mudaliyar of the Magam pattu in the suppression .of the outbreak. The spread of the disease was promptly suppressed. The number of attacks was 35, and the number of deaths 18. Hospitals and camps were erected for contacts to meet any emergency, and no effoit was spared to stop the spread of the disease. I thankfully acknowledge the expression of His Excellency the Governor’s satisfaction at the success which attended these steps. The disease was introduced into the Hambantota District by means of the cart traffic between Hambantota and Koslanda, in the F i ovine e of Uva, where the disease was prevalent. Some infected carts or drivers had evidently halted, as_ they usually do for long intervals in Sinhalese villages en route and trafficked with the inhabitants, and thus conveyed the disease. Hospitals and camps were opened at Bundala. The epidemic speedily yielded to the steps adopted by me.