Sessional_Paper_1892 — Page 238

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Hospital Deaths.

In 1891 out of a total 5,374 deaths for the whole Colony, the Hospital deaths amounted to

Tung Wa Hospital,

Government Civil Hospital,.

Alice Memorial Hospital,

Royal Naval Hospital,

Military Hospital...........

Gun Lascar Hospital, Peak Hospital,

Total,....

1,173

84

34

$

14

4

1,319

or 24.54 per cent of the total mortality for the year. In England hospital deaths constitute only about four per cent of the total number of deaths. This large percentage of hospital deaths in Hong- kong is in a great measure due to the fact that many of the poorer Chinese apply for admission to the Tung Wa Hospital when they are in the very last stages of sickness, so that their remains may be properly cared for after death, a point on which Chinese sentiment is very strong, rather than in the hope of being cured. A glance at the figures in Table VII., which gives the number of patients under treatment in the Tung Wa Hospital during 1891 and which has already been published in the Government Gazette, shows that the total number under treatment in the Hospital during the year was 2,630; the total discharged, 1,359; the total of deaths 1,159 or 44.07 per cent of the total number admitted. In its out-patient department the Hospital is a great boon to the poor, who flock to it in large numbers, as the figures show. The out-patients during the year were-

Male, Female,

Total,....

99,446 ..... 55,148

..154,594

or more than two thirds of the entire Chinese population, which is about 214,000. No doubt many of the same out-patients went to the Hospital frequently, which would of course swell the number, as each visit, whether by the same person or not, is entered as a separate case.

Diagram showing Deaths from all causes for the past 6 years.

A diagram, which Mr. MCCALLUM, the Secretary of the Sanitary Board, has kindly drawn up, is attached, showing the deaths for each month, the mean temperature and the rainfall for the years 1887

to 1891.

Mortality during past 6 years.

The following Table shows the number of deaths and death rate during the past 6 years:-

Estimated Population.

British and Foreign,

Chinese,

Whole,

1886. 1887. 1888. 1889. 10,412 10,552 10,692 -10,832 171,290 175,410 179,530 183,650 181,702 185,962 190,222 194,482

1890.

1891.

10,972

10,494

187,770

214,320

198,742 224,814

Deaths,

5,100

5,317

6,034

4,597

4,553

5,374

Death rate per 1,000.

British and Foreign, Chinese,

18.54

23.31

23.28

17.54

17.13

18.20

28.65

28.90

32.22

24.00

23.25

24.18

1

Whole,

28.07

28.59

31.72

23.64

22.90

23.90

Registered Causes of Death.

In Table VI. will be found the causes of death during 1891. In a Colony like Hongkong, the popu- lation of which is almost entirely composed of Chinese, who are not acquainted with Western medical science and whose doctors have never received a medical training in accordance with Western methods, the difficulties of ascertaining the real causes of death, even in cases where the deceased was attended by a Chinese practitioner, can be easily conceived. But these difficulties are still further increased when, as is often the case, no doctor of any kind has been in attendance, and the information, on which the cause of death is registered, is derived from the person reporting the death, who, as a rule, is not able to give a very accurate account of the nature of the disease which terminated fatally. In cases where any doubt exists the death is classed as "ill-defined and undiagnosed," which accounts for there being a larger number (318) of deaths classed under that heading than may perhaps appear in places where the local circumstances are different from those of Hongkong,

No. of

Deuths.

750