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

  • Ceylon. Civil Medical Department.
Date:
[1902]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

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

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    f I k. A 20 CEYLON ADMINISTRATION REPORTS FOR 1902. [Part IV. Chickenpox^ a harmless disease usually, is the cause of harm very often by smallpox being mistaken for it, either through ignorance or fear on the part of the patient’s friends. The idea that a case of chickenpox need not be reported to the sanitary authorities is dangerous as well as illegal, and was shown in the outbreak above-mentioned of smallpox at Weligama, when the case was supposed to be-chickenpox and not reported till twelve days after the eruption had begun, and for that reason only 12 other cases contracted the disease from the first one, these being the only cases affected, with a total of 13. Leprosy.—The new Ordinance came into operation at the beginning of 1902, and I made arrangements to inspect all lepers brought to the stations of qualified medical officers only, writing previously to the Government Agent and Assistant Government Agent about it. The plan seemed easy to carry out, but it did not work as satisfactorily as expected for these reasons (1) The distance may have been too great for lepers to travel to the hospital or dispensary when willing to go. (2) Some lepers were too ill to go. (3) Some, I heard, refused to go. (4) Some cases of skin disease were mistaken for leprosy, and they had a journey for nothing. (5) Some cases disappear either before the inspection or after. Mortality. It is striking that the mortality in this Province is reported as not high, the diseases being many and varied, and the general health or strength of the people is not robust. Dysentery and malarial fevers are the chief causes of death. Sanitation. i The general sanitary condition of the Province is on the whole improved, but a good deal remains to be done, especially in the outlying districts, where the people are apathetic, and headmen do not appear to insist on their attention to the surroundings. The general complaint of the medical officers is that sanitary requirements are unattended to, gardens are allowed to be overgrown with jungle, accumulations of filth allowed to exist, absence of proper wells and a good water supply, want of latrines, and the contamination of surface wells by the drainage of polluted gardens, and the want of proper burial places. The sanitation of Galle is in the hands of the Municipality, and a special medical officer is in charge. The water supply is still of a doubtful nature. The dry-earth closet system is being extended through the Fort. Infectious Hospital.—The Government has decided to build a temporary Infectious Diseases Hospital, which was refused for a long time, and plans have been made for three separate buildings for three diseases : smallpox, cholera, and chickenpox. Matara is in a fairly satisfactory condition as to sanitation. Tangalla.—The water supply is defective, being chiefly obtained from two wells near the hospital, on one side of the town. One well has pure water and the other has not, and when the water is exhausted, which happens often in times of drought, it has to be carried some miles. Hambantota.—A water supply is required, as it is obtained now from surface wells, and is slightly brackish. Balapitiya.—The Sanitary Board established in 1901 is making progress. A site for a cemetery and market-place was fixed on by the Government Agent and myself in April last. Hospitals. Government Civil Hospital, Galle.—The chief diseases treated here were malarial fever and cachexia with debility, parangi, dysentery, and diarrhoea, rheumatism, abscess, phthisis, and syphilis. The highest mortality was from malarial cachexia, diarrhoea, dysentery, and phthisis. The following improvements were completed during the year :—New kitchen, store-rooms, two old kitchens changed into a ward, nurses’ quarters had an additional room by changing the ward upstairs into a large sitting-room, new bathroom and latrine were added; covered ways from ward No. 2 to women’s ward, and from ward No. 1 to ward No. 7 (medical), also from women’s ward to new ward, thus enabling any one to go round the hospital under cover ; buttresses to the outer wall with drain inside in medical officer’s garden ; glass to shutters in upper verandah and window to private ward ; and a boundary wall at the back of the hospital. Infectious Diseases Hospital.—There were 19 cases admitted hero : 2 smallpox, 1G chickenpox, and 1 suspected plague, with no deaths. Hospital for Women.—GO cases were admitted. Of these, 50 were for gonorrhoea, 2 for primary, G for secondary and 1 for tertiary syphilis, 10 for ulceration of vagina. House of Observation.—42 cases wore treated, of which 15 were sent to the Colombo Lunatic Asylum, 25 discharged, and 2 remained. Jails.—The prisoners of war, who wore housed in the Hambantota jail, were all sent away. The other jails are at Galle, Matara, and Tangalla. Only the Galle jail has a special medical officer, who does judicial work as well. Matara Hospital.—The chief diseases treated are parangi, ulcers, anaemia, and malarial diseases. Mortality is mostly due to diarrhoea, malarial cachexia, debility, dysentery, and enteric. Tangalla Hospital.—The chief diseases were malarial fever and cachexia, injuries, ulcers, parangi, worms, and skin diseases. The mortality was highest in cases of respiratory diseases, debility, and wounds ; there wore 13 deaths out of 308 cases. A notable injury causing death was a bite from a crocodile, and one case of acute yellow atrophy of the liver was admitted. Hambantota Hospital.—Malarial diseases, ulcers, injuries, skin diseases,and wormswere most aaths were causod chiefly by dysentery and diarrhoea, malarial fever, and respirator) prevalent, and de diseasos.