Triennial report on the hospitals and dispensaries in Burma.

  • Burma.
Date:
[1919]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Triennial report on the hospitals and dispensaries in Burma. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    8/62 (page 2)
    The following are the chief additions and improvements to hospitals during the past three years :— 1. A new Municipal Hospital at Toungoo. , - 2. A new European Ward and Nurses’ quarters at Tavoy. 3. Anew Civil Hospital at Mawlaik. 4. Extension of the Outdoor Dispensary at Maymyo Civil Hospital. 5. A New Dispensary at Victoria Point. 6. A New European Ward and three cottages were added to the Lunatic Asylum in Rangoon. 7. Work was begun and is in progress for building the female section of the New Lunatic Asylum at Kokine. 8. Quarters for the Civil Surgeon were erected at Mawlaik. 9. Quarters for the Head Compounder, Steward, Compounders and Dressers were built at Akyab. 10. A New Female Ward was constructed at Einme, Myaungmya District. 11. Improvements to the Contagious Diseases Hospital, Rangoon. 12. A New Contagious Diseases Ward at Bogale. 13. New Quarters for Sub-Assistant Surgeons at Prome and Pyinmana. Also a number of minor alterations and improvements throughout the province. A large number of building schemes are at present under consideration and the next few years ought to be a period of great activity. New hospitals or important additions to the present buildings are projected in Rangoon, Akyab, Myaungmya, Tavoy, Pegu, Bassein, Maymyo, Myitkyina, Bhamo and Lashio and this by no means completes the list of requirements. It would be a great advantage if some comparatively cheap and simple form of hospital construction could be introduced. Dr. Stephei Health Officer, Rangoon, has shown me a design for a hospital ward used on the tea and rubber plantations in Ceylon. This consists of a frame-work of iron on a concrete plinth with single brick walls four or five feet high only. The roof, which may be of tiles or shingles, does not meet the side walls, but is low enough to prevent the rain or sun from beating in. The floor is cambered and cemented with numerous open¬ ings in the side walls, so that it can thus be rapidly and efficiently flushed with water and kept clean. I have not yet been able t,o get an estimate of the cost of this design, but it appears to be eminently suited to those parts of Burma, where anything that can be described as a cold weather is absent. The general public as well as the Medical Department are greatly indebted to the following gentlemen and corporations who have contributed towards the improvement or added to the amenities of various hospitals throughout the province. The President of the Burma Oil Company presented a new ward to the Syriam Hospital. The Burma Oil Company continued to supply water and light free of charge, besides liberal assistance in other directions. Many firms and individuals have contributed to the upkeep of the Rangoon and Yenangyaung Hospitals. U Po Kyaw built a maternity ward in Ma-ubin at a cost of Rs. 4,154. The Hon’ble Mr. Jamal, C.I.E., contributed Rs. 1,500 to the Allanmyo Hospital and the Sawbwa of Kengtung Rs. 2,000 to the Kengtung Civil Hospital, etc. “ Zay at s,} for accommodation of patients’ friends are a necessary adjunct to every hospital in Burma, and one which is usually left to private benevolence to supply. Building a zayat is a work that should appeal to Burmans in a special degree, because it is a time-honoured and w’ell-known form of charity. Yet the number of hospitals either unprovided, or badly provided with these buildings, is large. The names of U Po at Taungup, U Po Chit of Nyaunglebin, Manekjee Palonjee at Myaungmya and Daw Thaw at Dedaye, deserve mention for their generous contributions towards the supply of this much appreciated and very useful form of charity. Thaton has set a good example to many larger places. A sum of Rs. 6,542 was subscribed for a maternity ward (U Tha Dwe and Mr. Arunachallam Chetty being the largest donors) and Rs. 2,580 by the general public for a “ Patients’ Comfort Fund.” Private qharity has not, however, played as large a jpart in the past as it might have done, and in some cases even this meagre part has been spoiled by the insistence of the donor on having some separate building to which his name attaches. This has frequently taken the form of a small wooden ward with no provkion for its upkeep. Such structures must in the course of time, and usually no very long time, fall into decay and be swept away, leaving nothing