M(1)21
Two deaths occurred, both of the patients being Indians. This was the smallest number of patients that I know of as having been admitted in any one year. The provision of a hospital for infectious diseases to be built on a more suitable site was discussed during the year and the site is being sought for.
Victoria Gaol Hospital.-The medical officer in charge was Dr. A.R. Esler, M.R.C.S.; L.R.C.P. Lond. The general health of the prisoners was satisfactory. 5,014 prisoners were committed, of these 197 were females and 88 were juvenile offenders. At the time of admission 711 were considered to be unfit for hard labour on account of their age or poor physique, and 35 required treatment in hospital.
The daily average number of prisoners in the gaol was 787; in hospital, the daily average was 7.6, and as outpatients, 40.
The prisoners treated in hospital amounted to 362 and in 1921 this number was 236.
Deaths.--Eight prisoners died. The diseases from which they suffered were-lobar pneumonia 2, beri-beri 2, pulmonary tuberculosis 1, myocarditis 1, plague 1, appendicitis 1.
Remission of sentences.-This was allowed in eight instances for reasons of health, the conditions for which release was recommended were, tuberculosis 3, leprosy 1, disease of the aortic valves of the heart 1, beri-beri 1, paraplegia and blindness 1.
Concerning the diseases from which some of the prisoners suffered, influenza is said to have been responsible for 93 admissions to hospital, and is the disease credited with the greatest amount of sickness. Whenever influenza is known to be about too much is apt to be ascribed to it, and, as there is nothing about it which may be regarded as characteristic, this is more or less unavoidable.
The medical officer reports that two patients suffered from amoebic dysentery, and one of these died; that fourteen cases of pulmonary tuberculosis were treated and that one died. In both of these diseases the number of cases treated was less than last year, whereas, there were fifteen cases of beri-beri as compared with two in the previous year. Eleven of the patients affected with beri-beri were affected before their conviction, in four only was the disease observed within a month after admission to gaol.
Malaria was more prevalent than it has been in recent years; 64 cases were in hospital, all of whom recovered. One prisoner was found to be affected with plague five days after her admission, she was removed from the gaol and no other case occurred. Scabies is of common occurrence, it existed in 202 prisoners on their entry to the gaol, but it is cured, as a rule, in eight or ten days. The rule that each prisoner shall have a bath every second day has had a good effect not only on scabies but on the general health and cleanliness. Fifty-three prisoners required treatment because of the habitual use of opium, the majority of the cases did not appear to have been long accustomed to the use of the drug. The cases of venereal disease observed amounted to fifty-four patients suffering from gonorrhoea and fifty-two from venereal sores.
M (1) 21
Two deaths occurred, both of the patients being Indians. This was the smallest number of patients that I know of as having been admitted in any one year. The provision of a hospital for infectious diseases to be built on a more suitable site was discussed during the year and the site is being sought for.
Victoria Gaol Hospital.-The medical officer in charge was Dr. A.R. Esler, M.R C.S.; L. R.C.P. Lond. The general health of the prisoners was satisfactory. 5,014 prisoners were committed, of these 197 were females and 88 were juvenile offenders. At the time of admission 711 were considered to be unfit for hard labour on account of their age or poor physique, and 35 required treatment in hospital.
The daily average number of prisoners in the gaol was 787; in hospital, the daily average was 7·6, and as outpatients, 40.
The prisoners treated in hospital amounted to 362 and in 1921 this number was 236.
Deaths.--Eight prisoners died. The diseases from which they suffered were-lobar pneumonia 2, beri-beri 2, pulmonary tuber- culosis 1, myocarditis 1, plague 1, appendicitis 1.
Remission of sentences.-This was allowed in eight instances for reasons of health, the conditions for which release was recom- mended were, tuberculosis 3, leprosy 1, disease of the aortic valves of the heart 1, beri-beri 1, paraplegia and blindness 1.
Concerning the diseases from which some of the prisoners suffered, influenza is said to have been responsible for 93 admis- sions to hospital, and is the disease credited with the greatest amount of sickness. Whenever influenza is known to be about too much is apt to be ascribed to it, and, as there is nothing about it which may be regarded as characteristic, this is more or less unavoidable.
The medical officer reports that two patients suffered from amoebic dysentery, and one of these died; that fourteen cases of pulmonary tuberculosis were treated and that one died. In both of these diseases the number of cases treated was less than last year, whereas, there were fifteeen cases of beri-beri as compared with two in the previous year. Eleven of the patients affected with beri-beri were affected before their conviction, in four only was the disease observed within a month after admission to gaol.
Malaria was more prevalent than it has been in recent years; 64 cases were in hospital, all of whom recovered. One prisoner was found to be affected with plague five days after her admission, she was removed from the gaol and no other case occurred. Scabies is of common occurrence, it existed in 202 prisoners on their entry to the gaol, but it is cured, as a rule, in eight or ten days. The rule that each prisoner shall have a bath every second day has had a good effect not only on scabies but on the general health and cleanliness. Fifty-three prisoners required treatment because of the habitual use of opium, the majority of the cases did not appear to have been long accustomed to the use of the drug. The cases of venereal disease observed amounted to fifty-four patients suffering from gonorrhoea and fifty-two from venereal sores.
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