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hospitals. An important step taken by the Committee was to provide more Government hospitals in all parts of the city in order to obviate the danger arising from the shock caused by a removal to a distant hospital. At the same time all the communities were urged to prepare their own hospitals, as it was the intention of the Commitee to have all cases removed from houses, and if no caste hospital was ready their patients would be taken to the nearst Government hospital. They were given the option of putting up a separate shed for themselves inside the compound of some Government hospital, or of providing an entirely separate one of their own. The result of this was that applications began to pour in rapidly, and the house-to-house searches which were vigorously carried on convinced all classes that no time was to be lost if they wished to have their sick under their own management. The management of these caste hospitals was entirely in the hands of the promoters, the only interference being that the District Medical Officer frequently visited all the hospitals in his district to see that proper sanitary arrangements were made, that the treatment of the patients was consistent with humanity, and that sufficient good food was administered to them. The treatment was left, as stipulated, entirely in the hands of a practitioner appointed by the community and approved by the Committee. The relations and friends of the patients who wished to attend them were allowed to do so, sheds and food being provided for them free of charge. The knowledge that they would be allowed to attend their friends in hospital went far towards reconciling the relations of the plague-stricken to their removal.
5. Another important step in regard to the treatment of cases in hospital was the employment of nurses by the Commitee. The Sisters of Bndra (Sisters of the Cross), the Mzgaon Sisters (All Saints' Sisters), and the Clare Road Sisters (Nuns of Jesus and Mary), came forward about this time. The Mzgaon Sisters had volunteered for the Arthur Road Hospital early in February, and their services were generally accepted by the Committee. Other nurses were procured locally and the Secretary of State was asked to send 12 more trained nurses from England. The details given in the report of the Committee show that everywhere it was found that the services of the nurses were fully appreciated by the patients, who showed many signs of their gratitude.
6. It has already been mentioned that all the disinfecting staff formerly engaged by the Municipality was taken over by the Committee. Large additions were now made to it, and every house in which a case of plague or even of suspected plague had taken place was thoroughly disinfected under the immediate supervision of the District Medical Officers, each of whom had a separate gang of experienced coolies under the Health Department Inspectors attached to his district for this purpose.
7. As regards the segregatian of the probably affected, the third suggestion of His Excellency the Governor on the discovery of a case the relatives and persons living in the room with the patient were removed with him to hospital and kept under observation for from 10 to 15 days. The breadwinner of the family was allowed to go out of the hospital during the day if he so desired, returning at night. Where several plague cases occurred in a chawl or house, the place was vacated and the tenants found quarters in other premises, and as far as possible they were kept under observation by the District Medical Officer of the district. The wholesale vacation of infected streets or districts was not attempted, for no space was available in Bombay for such large camps as would have been necessary when the epidemic existed throughout the city; neither was it considered to be essential, as all Government and private hospitals provided segregation houses or huts for the families of infected persons. But in the months of March and April the population of the city was reduced to about 475,000 and whole streets of houses in the worst districts were vacated by the spontaneous flight of the people.
Examination of Traffic.
8. It is estimated that about of 33/4 lakhs of people had left Bombay by the time of the appointment of the Committee. With the decreasing epidemic the stream set the other way, and the inspection of the inward traffic was carried out by the Committee, arrangements being made for the examination of all arrivals by land and sea. The Thna District was one of the worst affected at this time,