Annual report of the Medical Department / Uganda Protectorate.

  • Uganda Protectorate. Medical Department.
Date:
[1948]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Annual report of the Medical Department / Uganda Protectorate. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    54/74 (page 48)
    SECTION VIII.—PROTECTORATE MENTAL HOSPITAL 98. Accommodation for patients was increased during the year by the construction of three new wards, two male and one female, and some additional single rooms. It was not found possible to occupy this new accommodation before the end of the year because of the lack of suitable door locks. A new laundry has also been constructed and will be ready for use in 1949. Overcrowding of the Hospital still persisted to a considerable degree, although as a relief measure selected district (Protectorate Government) prisons continued to be used temporarily as mental hospitals. The accommodation available, excluding the new wards, was sufficient for 200 patients (130 males and 70 females), whereas the total number actually in residence at the end of 1948 was 295 (205 males and 90 females), of whom three were Asians (two males and one female). 99. Extensions and improvements to the male and female sick bays were completed before the end of the year and have led to greater efficiency in nursing and treatment, particularly in regard to the reception of new cases. 100. The new Macphail-Strauss Electrical Convulsant Therapy unit arrived in June and has produced most encouraging results. 101. Occupational therapy now forms an important part of the treat¬ ment given to selected cases, and a daily average of 238 patients were engaged in some form of work, 86 being employed in the hospital garden; others carried out menial duties in the wards, kitchens and laundry, while a varying number of female patients were occupied in needlework, knitting and rug-making. 102. A new diet was introduced in the latter part of the year, being more varied, abundant and palatable than that formerly in use. In the last quarter of the year there was an average increase in weight of lbs. per patient. 103. Admission (including re-admissions) to the Institution numbered 123 males and 36 females, whilst discharges amounted to 72 males and 19 females. The numbers of admissions, discharges and deaths and of those receiving convulsant therapy are given in Table 42. Table 42. Particulars Class Male Female Total First admissions ... Civil 104 30 134 Criminal ... 6 3 9 Total ... 110 33 M3 Re-admissions Civil 12 2 14 Criminal ... 1 1 Total ... 13 3 16