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.

    13/62 (page 7)
    for their fight against disease and injury. With the exception of the Superin¬ tendent, Civil Surgeons, Specialists and possibly few others, I think no officer should occupy an appointment for more than two years and as far as possible all new arrivals should begin their careers in Rangoon. In 1919 with a view of associating Private Medical Practitioners with the work of the Hospital, Dr. (Mrs.) Ferguson was appointed Registrar on a salary of Rs. 350 per mensem. The appointment can hardly be said to have fulfilled expectations. Dr. Ferguson has resigned since the close of the year, on leaving Rangoon ; and the question of continuing the appointment is still undecided. 15. The following table shows the more important diseases amongst the in-door patients during the triennium :— Diseases. (1) 19*7. (2) 1918. (3^ I9I9- (4) Mean percentage of deaths during the triennium 1917—19. (5) Injuries 15**37 M,475 15.3*3 3*35 Malaria ... 11,632 11,548 12,026 268 Syphilis 3,535 3,343 3.502 1*81 Dysentery 2,030 2,204 2,745 13*81 Respiratory diseases 1,874 2,034 L949 3’6o Small-pox 295 308 L553 2i*43 Diarrhoea 1,219 i,274 1,364 19*86 Venereal diseases ... 1,*62 1,182 1,309 0*48 Tuberculosis—Lung 9°3 888 873 36*56 Tuberculosis—Other 196 264 264 20-72 Cholera 176 280 819 51 *29 Malaria.—This is the commonest cause of sickness, but its incidence varies greatly in different parts of the province. Taking the admissions into the larger hospitals by districts and divisions, which should give a fair idea of the distri¬ bution of the malaria, I find that the following is the relative prevalence of the disease expressed in a ^percentage of the total number of patients treated in different hospitals:— Percent. Shan States Chin Hills Mandalay Division Arakan Division Irrawaddy Division Pegu Division Sagaing Division Meiktila Division Magwe Division 33*i7 19*41 19*18 15*4 ii*6 101 9'°7 8*12 5*09 It will be seen that Shan States is the most malarious part of Burma, and Lashio with an admission rate of 44 !per cent, is facile princeps. Taunggyi and Mogdk come next with 28*03, Mawleik follows with 24*5 and Arakan with 15'4- Central Burma including the divisions of Sagaing, Meiktila and Magwe have a comparatively small number of admissions, though the figures for Sagaing are spoiled by the inclusion of Mawleik. Magwe, Pakdkku and Myingyan are the least malarious districts. Holding an intermediate place between these two, come the Lower Burma Divisions, Irrawaddy, Pegu and Tenasserim. While in a class all by itself is Rangoon Town, to judge by the hospital returns, the least malarious place in Burma. Malaria is not a frequent cause of death ; out of 12,026 admissions in 1919 only 355 died, a mortality of 2*95 per cent., but undoubtedly its ravages lower the general health and cause its victims to succumb more readily to attacks of other diseases In malarial parts of the country quinine is distributed by the district officers. Complaints have been received about the quality of quinine supplied which are being enquired into. I believe that with improved medical education and the more frequent use of the microscope to ensure accurate diagnosis, the amount of malarial fever shown in the returns will gradually decrease. A large number of cases at present called malaria are wrongly so diagnosed, and the disease is probably not so common as generally supposed. Dysentery.—An analysis similar to that made in the case of malarial fever shows theft there is no necessary connection, as is popularly thought, between Statements C (i) and C