'Administration Report of the Persian Gulf for the year 1932' [‎558r] (19/72)

11
APPENDIX I,
Notes on the working of the Residency An office of the East India Company and, later, of the British Raj, established in the provinces and regions considered part of, or under the influence of, British India. Dispensary, Bushire, for the year 193d.
Major II. J. H. Symons, M.C., held charge of the appointment of Pvesidency
Surgeon from the 1st January until he proceeded on leave to the United Kingdom on 23rd
April, when he was relieved by Major J. J. Rooney, I.M.S., who held charge until 31st
December.
First Class Assistant Surgeon, M. L. A. Steele, I.M.D., was in sub-charge of the
Dispensary from 1st January until the 31st December.
Climatically the year was most unusual. There were no winter rains in the early
part of the year but cold North winds kept the temperature remarkably low until the end
of Mareii. The hot weather period was cooler than usual and this was due also to the
prevalence of the North wind.
Owing to two consecutive winters being almost rainless a food, forage, and water
famine threatened. Arrangements were made by the local authorities for the importation
of grain, and drinking water for the inhabitants of Bushire had to be brought in skins
from Bahmani, a distance of six miles. No outbreak of famine diseases took place in
Bushire but reports from further down the coast indicate that deficiency diseases were
prevalent there.
One result of the lack of rain was a falling off in the incidence of malarial fevers.
The influenza epidemic which started in November 1931, carried on into February
1932. The mortality was high owing to the early development of Lobar and Broncho-
Pneumonia in a large percentage of the cases.
The number of in-patients and outdoor attendances, in comparison with those of 1931
were as follows :—
In-patients.
Out-patients.
Operations.
1931
49
13,136
279
1932
27
10,119
127
The decrease in the number of attendances is mainly due to the mildness of the climate
during the year and the falling off in malarial fevers. The autumn and early winter were
remarkable for the paucity of attendances. In normal years this season is a ‘ rush ’ one
for the hospital staff. The rains were nearly a month late in starting and were not
followed by the really piercing North wind that is a feature of the cold weather. There
was an outbreak of diphtheria amongst the School children in the late summer and cases
of amoebic dysentry were seen from time to time throughout the year.
General Coulogner, the French Director-General of the Persian Medical Service,
'visited Bushire in the early summer and was shewn around the Dispensary. For the
period of his visit, the twenty beds of the Bushire Charitable Hospital were filled by
twenty reluctant ‘ patients ’ who were paid Rials 3 per diem. It has been reported that
after one or two days incarceration the ‘ patients ’ struck and demanded Rials 5 per diem
and were paid their demands. Normally the beds are empty, or occupied by members
of the hospital staff.
J. J. ROONEY,
Major, I. M. S.,
Residency An office of the East India Company and, later, of the British Raj, established in the provinces and regions considered part of, or under the influence of, British India. Surgeon and
Chief Quarantine Medical Officer, Bushire.
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