Report of a departmental committee on the prevalence of venereal disease among the British troops in India.

Date:
1897
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Report of a departmental committee on the prevalence of venereal disease among the British troops in India. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by Royal College of Physicians, London. The original may be consulted at Royal College of Physicians, London.

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    which they were created. He proposed the establishment in every cantonment of a hospital for the treatment of sick natives of all classes residing within the limit of the cantonment who are not enlisted soldiers. The Government of India approved this proposal, and Hr. Pace was deputed to visit certain stations in the Bengal Presidency in connection with the establishment of these new “ Cantonment General Hospitals,” as it was decided to call them. The result of his inspection was that Cantonment General Hospitals were established at Lucknow, Umballa, Rawal Pindi, Bareilly, Peshawar, Allahabad, Jubbulpore, Meean Meer, Meerut, Agra, Quetta, Binapore, Fyzabad, Sitapore, Cawnppre, Mooltan, Perozepore, Nowsbera, and Sialkot. Proposals were also received for the establishment of similar hospitals in the Madras and Bombay Presidencies, but owing to want of funds no action was taken thereon. Prom the foregoing it will be seen that there now were two classes of hospitals (a) the “Cantonment Hospitals” established under the orders of 1890, and (.b) the new Cantonment General Hospitals started by Hr. Rice. 7. In March 1894 the Commander-in-Chief pointed out that the results obtained by the establishment of Cantonment and Cantonment General Hospitals had not been satisfactory, inasmuch as these institutions had failed to attract the classes for whose treatment they were primarily started. His Excellency therefore inquired whether the policy of the Government of India in regard to the maintenance of these hospitals was likely to he modified. The Government of India concurred generally in the Commander-in-Chief’s views, and directed that no expansion should occur in the expenditure on these hospitals, pending further consideration of certain points in connection with their future maintenance. In the meantime sanction was given to close the following hospitals as not fulfilling the object for which they were established, viz., Binapore, Fatehgarh, Malapuram, Thayetmyo, Paclimari, Darjeeling, Barrackpore, Saugor, Mliow, Neemuch, and Nusserabad. 8. It may here be remarked that, notwithstanding the instructions which were issued from time to time in consonance with the orders of 1888, it was found that the practices which had been condemned by the Resolution of the House of Commons, and which had been prohibited by the orders of the Governor General in Council, had not been wholly discontinued in some cantonments, and in a Despatch dated 1st March 1894, No. 26, the Secretary of State for India intimated that the only effective method of preventing a recurrence of such practices was by means of legislation; accordingly an Act for this purpose was passed by the Governor General in Council on 7th February 1895, “ providing that no rule made under the Cantonments Act of “ 1889 shall contain any regulation enjoining or permitting any compulsory or “ periodical examination of any woman by medical officers or others for the purpose tc of ascertaining whether she is or is not suffering from any venereal disease, or is or “ is not fit for prostitution.” Similarly, it was provided “ that no rule shall contain “ any regulation for the licensing or special registration of prostitutes, or for giving “ legal sanction to the practice of prostitution in any cantonment.” This necessitated a revision of the 1890 cantonment rules, and a fresh set of rules were therefore drawn up and published for general information in G. G. Os. Lastly, to avoid the possibility of any future misconception of orders, a resolution explaining the policy of the new Act and rules, and prohibiting all practices, as distinguished from rules and regulations, inconsistent with that policy, was issued by the Governor General in Council on the 29th April 1895. 9. In January 1895, the Quartermaster-General submitted revised proposals for the medical treatment of Government followers and the Native civil population of cantonments, the principles on which these proposals were based being:— (a) That where feasible the native population should resort as formerly to civil dispensaries, grants being made to those institutions by cantonment funds wherever necessary; (b) That hospitals for the indoor treatment of followers and others should only be provided in a few instances where absolutely necessary, but that in such cases the hospital should be designated a “ station followers’ hospital,” the term “ cantonment ” or “ cantonment general ” hospital being open to objection having regard to past associations ; (c) That where (a) is not feasible or (b) unnecessary, the present cantonment hospital should be converted into an outdoor dispensarv. E 2 1894. 1895. 1895-96