2                            NOTE ON THE MENTAL HOSPITALS

maximum of 1,100. The overcrowding was increased consequent on
44 out of the 84 beds in the European and better class Asiatic section
and 12 beds in the male dysentery ward having been necessarily kept
vacant owing to there being no patients of these classes.

There was no overcrowding at Minbu and the accommodation was
sufficient as the number of inmates at the end of the year was 112.

4.  Population.—The total number of inmates at Tadagale excluding
3 observation cases (2 males and 1 female) at the commencement of the
year was 1,024 (867 males and 157 females), the highest number con-
fined in any one night being 1,100 (935 males and 165 females). The
number of inmates on the last day of the year was 1,090 (927 males and
163 females), and the daily average strength was 1,059.29. The number
of inmates at the beginning of the year at Minbu was 121 and at the
end of the year 112 and the daily average strength was 118.41 and the
largest population in any one night was 121.

5.  Admissions and Discharges.—Two hundred and thirty inmates (194
males and 36 females) were admitted into the Mental Hospital, Tadagale
during the year ; this number included 26 readmissions. One hundred
and twenty-two inmates were discharged in 1929 as against 151 in 1928
and 134 in 1927, the higher numbers discharged in 1928 and 1929
being mainly accounted for by a larger number of sane criminals being
sent to attend their trials or being re-transferred to jails. There were
no admissions at Minbu. Three patients were discharged as improved
and 6 died during the year. Of the total number discharged in
1929, 67 were declared cured, 51 improved and 7 otherwise. In 1928
the number discharged as cured was 111 and in 1927, 88. Discharged
as improved were 29 in 1928 and 34 in 1927.

The percentage of cured to admissions was 13.77 in 1927 ; 14.39 in
1928 and 6.52 in 1929.

The cooly and the cultivator classes contributed the largest number
of admissions during the year. A little over 38 per cent. of total admis-
sions were from Rangoon.

A thorough and systematic examination of patients admitted revealed
18 cases of general paralysis of the insane with typical physical signs
and symptoms, a history of syphilis was elicited in the majority of these
cases and a positive Wassermann reaction in every case.

6.   Statement II shows the number of criminal lunatics confined in the
Mental Hospitals in Burma. The daily average strength of this class of
inmates at the Mental Hospital at Tadagale rose from 376.59 in 1928 to
399.87 in 1929.

7.  Statement III shows that of the 230 admissions at Tadagale, 121
were Burmese, 44 Hindus, 26 Mahomedans, and other nationalities 39.