TUNG WAI HOSPITAL.
There is little more to say concerning this Institution than has been said in previous Reports. As Professor WYVILLE THOMPSON, of the Challenger Expedition, observed, when visiting this establishment with me: "As a Hospital it is beyond criticism." Formerly, I am told, there used to be what were called "dying houses," the Chinese having the greatest possible objection to any one dying in a dwelling house; to these places people were brought in the last stage of disease, to die. The attendant in charge of the house was only obliged to supply the dying people with water, and if they took hours or days to die, that was all they got. The Tung Wah Hospital has taken the place of these "dying houses," but the Chinese have a great objection to going to Hospital, except in the last stage of disease.
This year 1,008 patients were admitted, as compared with 959 in 1873, and 505 died, as compared with 388 in 1873. So that it appears the mortality, which was about 40 per cent. in 1873, has increased to over 50 per cent. this year. This, I think, shows that the Chinese do not go into this Hospital with any confidence; the treatment amounts to nothing, except in surgical cases, and then what is done is more harm than good. Twenty-one Small-pox patients were admitted, and fifteen died. A great number of out-patients come for advice. There were 39,359 attended this year, but a Chinaman is very ready to take advice, for it is not uncommon to see a Chinese patient taking the remedies of half a dozen native Doctors, besides those of several old women, at the same time. On my inspections round the town, I saw an old woman very busy making pills. I asked her what drugs she was using. She said she did not know, but the pills cured everything. I asked what their action was, but she could not say; she could not tell whether they purged, as she had never tried them herself, but they were good for every complaint, and she sold plenty of them. I gave Professor THOMSON a Chinese native Doctor's prescription. It consisted of vegetables entirely, which might be eaten with impunity in any quantity; the patient for whom it was written died, but the Chinese Doctor did not know what was the matter with him.
All that can be said for the Tung Wah Hospital is, that it is kept fairly clean; the patients get good food, and, according to Chinese ideas, very comfortable accommodation. The one great good that this Hospital does is vaccination, which it has greatly assisted in spreading; 1,246 were vaccinated this year.
VICTORIA GAOL.
Table VII. shows the actual number of Hospital cases. Table VIII., the number of prisoners treated in their cells. The Hospital consists of seven small wards, only capable of holding two patients in each ward; so none but the worst cases are taken into Hospital, and even this accommodation is only for men; all women becoming seriously sick have to be sent to the Civil Hospital. There has been only one death in the Gaol this year, and most of the cases have originated outside. Diarrhoea, Dysentry, Fever, Bronchial Affections and old Ulcers have been the principal complaints treated. I find the average number of prisoners who desire to see me daily is about fifty, but these are not all cases of disease, but applications for change of diet, alterations in their work, &c., and these are about the admissions daily to be inspected. I have been compelled to give extra diet to the European prisoners in a great many cases, and I would suggest an alteration in their diet,-that, instead of a pint of tea for breakfast, they should have a pint of gruel; for I find that the tea in the morning causes a great deal of indigestion, and as the hardest labour of the day is done between breakfast and dinner, tea, I think, is a mistake. Short sentence prisoners, such as drunken sailors sent in for 14 days, have the whole time on bread and water, which, I think, is too severe; seven days bread and water should, I think, be the longest time in this climate. It renders a man totally unfit for work when he goes out, and a glass of beer given by a friend would be quite enough to send him to Gaol again for being drunk and disorderly.
Table IX. shows the number of prisoners, as compared with the sickness and mortality in the Gaol. During this year several lunatics have been sent to Gaol, simply because they were lunatics, and there is no other place of safety in which to put them. The noise they make in the Gaol Hospital not only keeps the whole Gaol awake, but also the whole neighbourhood around. One case this year caused violent public indignation, and the patient, who is a woman, has been removed to a room in the half-ruined Old Civil Hospital. I would suggest that the upper story of this building be cleared away and the lower one repaired and roofed and kept for cases of this description, which not unfrequently occur. They should not be put in either the Hospital or the Gaol, for patients ought not to be disturbed by the frightful cries of a lunatic day and night, and I am sure the prisoners get sufficiently punished with hard fare and hard work without being deprived of their sleep at night.
LOCK HOSPITAL.
Vide.(C.0. No.
14th April, 1875.
The improvement of having stoves in the wards of this building, as I suggested in my Report, I am glad to say has been carried out, and that leaves nothing to be desired.
year,
TUNG WAI HOSPITAL.
There is little more to say concerning this Institution than has been said in previous Reports. As Professor WYVILLE THOMPSON, of the Challenger Expedition, observed, when visiting this establishment with me: "As a Hospital it is beyond criticism." Formerly, I am told, there used to be what were called "dying houses," the Chinese having the greatest possible objection to any one dying in a dwelling house; to these places people were brought in the last stage of disease, to die. The attendant in charge of the house was only omit. obliged to supply the dying people with water, and if they took hours or days to die, that was all they got. The Tung Wah Hospital has taken the place of these "dying houses," but the Chinese have a great objection to going to Hospital, except in the last stage of disease.
This year 1,008 patients were admitted, as compared with 959 in 1873, and 505 died, as compared with 388 in 1873. So that it appears the mortality, which was about 40 per cent. in 1873, has increased to over 50 per cent. this year. This, I think, shows that the Chinese do not go into this Hospital with any confidence; the treatinent amounts to nothing, except in surgical cases, and then what is done is more harm than good. Twenty one Small-pox patients were admitted, and fifteen died. A great number of out-patients come for advice. There were 39,359 attended this year, but a Chinaman is very ready to take advice, for it is not uncommon to see a Chinese patient taking the remedies of half a dozen native Doctors, besides those of several old women, at the same time. On my inspec-omit. tions round the town, I saw an old woman very busy making pills. I asked her what drugs she was using. She said she did not know, but the pills cured everything. I asked what their action was, but she could not say; she could not tell whether they purged, as she had never tried them herself, but they were good for every complaint, and she sold plenty of them. I gave Professor THOMSON a Chinese native Doctor's prescription. It con- sisted of vegetables entirely, which might be caten with impunity in any quantity; the patient for whoin it was written died, but the Chinese Doctor did not know what was the matter with him.
All that can be said for the Tung Wah Hospital is, that it is kept fairly clean; the patients get good food, and, according to Chinese ideas, very comfortable accommodation. The one great good that this Hospital does is vaccination, which it has greatly assisted in spreading; 1,246 were vaccinated this year.
VICTORIA GAOL.
Table VII. shows the actual number of Hospital cases. Table VIII., the number of prisoners treated in their cells. The Hospital consists of seven small wards, only capable of holding two patients in each ward; so none but the worst cases are taken into Hospital, and even this accommodation is only for men; all women becoming seriously sick have to be sent to the Civil Hospital. There has been only one death in the Gaol this year, and most of the cases have originated outside. Diarrhoea, Dysen- try, Fever, Bronchial Affections and old Ulcers have been the principal complaints treated. I find the average number of prisoners who desire to see me daily is about fifty, but these are not all cases of disease, but applications for change of diet, alterations in their work, &c., and these are about the admissions daily to be inspected. I have been compelled to give extra diet to the European prisoners in a great many cases, and I would suggest an alteration in their diet,-that, instead of a pint of ten for breakfast, they should have a pint of gruel; for I find that the tea in the morning causes a great deal of indigestion, and as the hardest labour of the day is done between breakfast and dinner, tea, I think, is a mistake. Short sentence prisoners, such as drunken sailors sent in for 14 days, have the whole time on bread and water, which, I think, is too severe; seven days bread and water should, I think, be the longest time in this climate. It renders a man totally unfit Omit. for work when he goes out, and a glass of beer given by a friend would be quite enough to send him to Gaol again for being drunk and disorderly.
Omit.
Table IX. shows the number of prisoners, as compared with the sickness and mortality in the Gaol. During this year several lunatics have been sent to Gaol, simply because they were lunatics, and there is no other place of safety in which to put them. The noise they make in the Gaol Hospital not only keeps the whole Gaol awake, but also the whole neighbourhood around. One case this year caused violent public indignation, and the patient, who is a woman, has been removed to a room in the half ruined Old Civil Hospital. I would suggest that the upper story of this building be cleared away and the lower one repaired and roofed and kept for cases of this description, which not unfrequently occur. They should not be put in either the Hospital or the Gaol, for patients ought not to be disturbed by the frightful cries of a lunatic day and night, and I am sure the prisoners get sufficiently punished with hard fare and hard work without being deprived of their sleep at night.
last
LOCK HOSPITAL.
Vide.(.5.0. No.
14th April, 1875.
The improvement of having stoves in the wards of this building, as I suggested in any Report
I am glad to say has been carried out, and that leaves nothing to be desired.
year,
TUNG WAI HOSPITAL.
There is little more to say concerning this Institution than has been said in previous Reports. As Professor WYVILLE THOMPSON, of the Challenger Expedition, observed, when visiting this establishment with me: "As a Hospital it is beyond criticism." Formerly, I am told, there used to be what were called "dying houses," the Chinese having the greatest possible objection to any one dying in a dwelling house; to these places people were brought in the last stage of disease, to die. The attendant in charge of the house was only omit. obliged to supply the dying people with water, and if they took hours or days to die, that was all they got. The Tung Wah Hospital has taken the place of these "dying houses," but the Chinese have a great objection to going to Hospital, except in the last stage of disease.
This year 1,008 patients were admitted, as compared with 959 in 1873, and 505 died, as compared with 388 in 1873. So that it appears the mortality, which was about 40 per cent. in 1873, has increased to over 50 per cent. this year. This, I think, shows that the Chinese do not go into this Hospital with any confidence; the treatinent amounts to nothing, except in surgical cases, and then what is done is more harm than good. Twenty one Small-pox patients were admitted, and fifteen died. A great number of out-patients come for advice. There were 39,359 attended this year, but a Chinaman is very ready to take advice, for it is not uncommon to see a Chinese patient taking the remedies of half a dozen native Doctors, besides those of several old women, at the same time. On my inspec-omit. tions round the town, I saw an old woman very busy making pills. I asked her what drugs she was using. She said she did not know, but the pills cured everything. I asked what their action was, but she could not say; she could not tell whether they purged, as she had never tried them herself, but they were good for every complaint, and she sold plenty of them. I gave Professor THOMSON a Chinese native Doctor's prescription. It con- sisted of vegetables entirely, which might be caten with impunity in any quantity; the patient for whoin it was written died, but the Chinese Doctor did not know what was the matter with him.
All that can be said for the Tung Wah Hospital is, that it is kept fairly clean; the patients get good food, and, according to Chinese ideas, very comfortable accommodation. The one great good that this Hospital does is vaccination, which it has greatly assisted in spreading; 1,246 were vaccinated this year.
VICTORIA GAOL.
Table VII. shows the actual number of Hospital cases. Table VIII., the number of prisoners treated in their cells. The Hospital consists of seven small wards, only capable of holding two patients in each ward; so none but the worst cases are taken into Hospital, and even this accommodation is only for men; all women becoming seriously sick have to be sent to the Civil Hospital. There has been only one death in the Gaol this year, and most of the cases have originated outside. Diarrhoea, Dysen- try, Fever, Bronchial Affections and old Ulcers have been the principal complaints treated. I find the average number of prisoners who desire to see me daily is about fifty, but these are not all cases of disease, but applications for change of diet, alterations in their work, &c., and these are about the admissions daily to be inspected. I have been compelled to give extra diet to the European prisoners in a great many cases, and I would suggest an alteration in their diet,-that, instead of a pint of ten for breakfast, they should have a pint of gruel; for I find that the tea in the morning causes a great deal of indigestion, and as the hardest labour of the day is done between breakfast and dinner, tea, I think, is a mistake. Short sentence prisoners, such as drunken sailors sent in for 14 days, have the whole time on bread and water, which, I think, is too severe; seven days bread and water should, I think, be the longest time in this climate. It renders a man totally unfit Omit. for work when he goes out, and a glass of beer given by a friend would be quite enough to send him to Gaol again for being drunk and disorderly.
Omit.
Table IX. shows the number of prisoners, as compared with the sickness and mortality in the Gaol. During this year several lunatics have been sent to Gaol, simply because they were lunatics, and there is no other place of safety in which to put them. The noise they make in the Gaol Hospital not only keeps the whole Gaol awake, but also the whole neighbourhood around. One case this year caused violent public indignation, and the patient, who is a woman, has been removed to a room in the half ruined Old Civil Hospital. I would suggest that the upper story of this building be cleared away and the lower one repaired and roofed and kept for cases of this description, which not unfrequently occur. They should not be put in either the Hospital or the Gaol, for patients ought not to be disturbed by the frightful cries of a lunatic day and night, and I am sure the prisoners get sufficiently punished with hard fare and hard work without being deprived of their sleep at night.
last
LOCK HOSPITAL.
Vide.(.5.0. No.
14th April, 1875.
The improvement of having stoves in the wards of this building, as I suggested in any Report
I am glad to say has been carried out, and that leaves nothing to be desired.
year,
No comments yet.
Private notes are available after approval.