Annual medical report / East Africa Protectorate.

  • East Africa Protectorate. Medical Department.
Date:
[1916]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Annual medical report / East Africa Protectorate. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    74/80 (page 74)
    As regards prognosis I have been unable to find out if the patient has recurrent attacks during life, but I have known of no failures to recover from the acute attack. The treatment is very simple. When taken to the asylum or when treated outside, they should have a strong purgative administered, salts, or one to two drops of croton oil. If very noisy and restless during the night a sedative can he given. They take their ordinary food readily, and they should he kept from harming themselves or others. The native treatment is by beating drums outside the patient’s hut to drive the spirit away. Sometimes they make linear cuts over the stomach and chest as a prophylactic. Mr. C. W. Hohley, C.M.G., in the journal “Man,” June, 1906, in an article on Kikuyu medicines says “Chanja Muka (Tree); made from the leaves of the tree. If a person is suffering from a disease called Ngoma, which is apparently a species of temporary madness, a little of this medicine taken with oil cures the patient.” I have had no opportunity of trying this. In conclusion, this temporary insanity has a medico-legal aspect, as probably homicidal and suicidal attempts are made during the attack. Also, I think that Medical Officers in out-stations should bear in mind this temporary insanity and keep under observation sudden cases among natives for at least three days, because it has frequently happened that, when certified and sent to the asylum immediately, especially if they are two or three days on the journey, they arrive entirely recovered.