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.

    11/62 (page 5)
    With a view of attracting a larger attendance of the female population and gaining their confidence a good deal of stress has in recent years been laid on the provision of separate male and female waiting-rooms, Prom a purely administrative point of view in the larger hospitals, this is quite sound, but in the smaller hospitals and dispensaries throughout the country, it is a mistake. It unnecessarily complicates the architecture and is disliked by the Burmans. When the latter goes to the hospital he or she is more often than not supported by one or more members of the family, usually of the opposite sex. Separation of the sexes is so alien to Burman ideas that they look on it with suspicion, and I have known patients go away rather than be separated from their friends. Complete privacy in the Consulting, Examining and Dressing Rooms is of course essential, but in the waiting-room, there is no more need for separation of the sexes than • there is in the waiting-room of a Harley Street Consultant. What respectable Burmese women really object to is being in the same ward with women of the town, and in most hospitals it is impossible to provide separate accommodation for this class of unfortunates, who furnish so large a proportion of female admissions. n. Contagions Diseases Hospitals,—There is a crying need for hospitals for Statement B. the segregation of infectious disease throughout the whole province. Generally speaking, the accommodation consists of temporary bamboo sheds often sadly dilapidated* with a nursing staff of coolies who have frequently had little or no training in attendance on the sick. Rangoon, considering its importance and the large number of immigrants from India, is little better off. The Contagious Diseases Hospital has been long recognized as inadequate and the whole question submit¬ ted to an exhaustive enquiry by a Committee appointed by Government. The conclusions arrived at have not yet been formulated. The forlorn condition of these hospitals, and their generally out-of-the-way situation is quite enough to account for their unpopularity—-rarely do patients come to them voluntarily. The healthy are prepared to take the risk of continuing to live with the infected, rather than consign the latter to an exile so dreaded. The not surprising result is that infectious cases are concealed and outbreaks become more dangerous and widespread. With the exception of small-pox, I think all infectious diseases could be quite safely treated in segregation wards in the compound of a general hospital if proper precautions were taken as regards staff, food, water-supply, disinfection of clothing, etc., and provided plenty of room was available. Even a few sporadic cases of small-pox might be so treated with little risk, though when large numbers are infected, this is not safe. Patients should be much more willing to come to a General Hospital and could be better looked after than in a remote spot where supervision is difficult. 12. Leper Asylums,—The number of inmates remaining at the close of the Statement!*, triennium in the four asylums was 845, of which only 23 were pauper lepers, although one knows from personal observation that the number of these unfortu¬ nates must run to hundreds, if not thousands, throughout the province. I fear the Lepers Act is a dead letter in most municipalities. The Medical Officer, St. John’s Asylum, Mandalay, reports that though cases of infringement of the Act were frequently reported, not a single arrest of a new case was made during the whole of 1919. A large number of pauper lepers wander about the country from one small bazaar to another and at present it is impossible to stop them. There are indications that this disease is much more widespread than is generally believed, in its early stages, however, it is extremely difficult to detect, but Lieutenant-Colonel Donovan in Madras found that six per cent, of the school children examined by him had signs of leprosy. Lieutenant-Colonel Pearce is of opinion that there is a large amount of this latent leprosy in Rangoon, especially amongst the Chinese community. At the Pasteur Institute treatment by injections of Morrhuate of Soda have been followed by excellent results as regards the relief of symptoms, but in no case has the disease been definitely eradicated. The Medical Officer, St. John’s Leper Asylum, Mandalay, reports having obtained good results from the injection of neem oil. The whole subject of leprosy requires full investigation, and I understand that the Sanitary Commis¬ sioner has made certain proposals to the Local Government for dealing with this loathsome disease. 13. bufferin Hospital.—One thousand four hundred and eighty-three patients Statement B, were admitted in 1919, of whom 1,024 were maternity cases, 85 abortions and mis¬ carriages and 374 other cases. Of the maternity cases 833 were reported normal