The report of the ordinary and resident medical officers, and the Inspector and Director of the Public Hospital, Kingston, Jamaica, for the year 1865.

  • Kingston Public Hospital (Jamaica)
Date:
1866
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The report of the ordinary and resident medical officers, and the Inspector and Director of the Public Hospital, Kingston, Jamaica, for the year 1865. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

    8/22 (page 8)
    We are lad to Le al)le to state that at last tlie female patients of the Hospital are placed in wards much bettor suited for the treat* ment of disease tlian those which they have occupied for many yc-ars past. For a loll series of years the medical officers liaA'o pointed out the sanitary defects of the Female Hospital and how in tliis de- partment the deaths were more than double in number those of tlie Male Hospital. We will not dwell on tliose defects, for they have, in an able and concise manner, been pointed out in the last annual medical report, in which the old Female Hospital was characterized as being “ as wretched an apology for a Hospital as can he well con- ceived, and un(piostionably a disgrace to the island.” On taking medical charge, we at once resolved that such acoudition should no longer be allowed to exist; and after much trouble and difficulty we liave succeeded (only within the last few weeks)in placing the female patients in wards which, altlioiigh very defective in many respects, arc far sii])erior to iliose they previousl}' occupied. We trust and believe that next year’s annual medical report will show that this change of wards has had a beneficial result in les- sening the hitherto enormous mortality amongst the female pa- tients. We rc'gret to state that the drainage of the Hospital is still in a very nnsatisfactory condition. The main drain which had just been completed at the commencement of the financial year was expected to “carry off all the execretions and filth of the Institution to a distance ; and in a liA'gienic point of view must prove of the highest utility.” We cannot state that a year’s experi- ence has ratified the liopes thus expressed. We are assured that no proper system of flushing out the drain is or ever can possibly he carried out. Under the present arrangement, a small quantity of water is dail\' poured down the drain wholly insufficient, both in volume and fo co, for proper cleaning. Another defect is, that hardly one-half of t!ie Hospital has been benefited by this expensive and im- perfectly constructed system of drainage. The privy of the old Female Hospital {occupied onlva few weeks ago) was merelva ces- pool which liad to he periodically emptied through the adjoining public lane, much to the annoyance of those living in the neighhour- hood. Neither the present female Hospital or No. 11 ward have their excreta and filth carried off by the existing drain. The pre- sent system of drainage is therefore of a veiy partial nature. On taking medical charge of the Institution, we found that nine sink-holes existed wliicli directly communicated with the main drain already alluded to, only one or* perhaps two of which were furnished willi so-called stink-traps, which were not very efficient. All these sink liolos surrounded or were between the medical wards of the Hospital, and tlie ward in which patients are kept after oper- ation. During the prevalence of the usual strong sca-hreeze during the day, hut little annoyance as regards smell resulted from these open sink holes; hut during a hot still day, or earh' in the morning- mid during the night, the miasm that arose from them was offensive in the extreme. Wc have made visits at all hours of the day and night, for the sole purpose of ascertaining whether any offensive