Lock hospital

A lock hospital was an establishment that specialized in treating sexually transmitted diseases. They operated in Britain and its colonies and territories from the 18th century to the 20th.[1] The military had a close association with a number of the hospitals. By the mid-19th century most of the larger army bases in India were home to a lock hospital.[2] There were more military than civil lock hospitals in India, due to the prevalence of venereal diseases amongst British troops.[3] In 1858 the Admiralty paid to have one opened in Portsmouth and in 1863 another in Plymouth.[4]

The earliest lock hospitals in India were established around 1797 at Berhampur, Kanpur, Danapur, and Fatehgarh. They were usually within bazaars, surrounded by a mud wall and manned by a doctor and a woman assistant. The local police were in charge of rounding-up women suspected of being diseased, who could return home only after obtaining a certificate of discharge.[5]

The term "lock hospital" originates from their use as leprosariums, in which the patients were kept in restraints.[1]:3

See also

References

  1. 1 2 Frederick W. Loundes, Lock Hospitals and Lock Wards in General Hospitals (London: J. & A. Churchill,1882), on Internet Archive website, at https://archive.org/stream/lockhospitalsloc00lown/lockhospitalsloc00lown_djvu.txt .
  2. ↑ Dartnell, George R (1860). "On the prevalence and severity of syphilis in the British army and its prevention". British Medical Journal. 1 (174): 317–319. PMC 2252720.
  3. ↑ Sehrawat, Samiksha. "Institutions: Lock hospitals: Measures to halt venereal diseases". Medical History of British India. National Library of Scotland. Retrieved 24 October 2013.
  4. ↑ Stark, Suzanne J. (1998). Female Tars: Women aboard ship in the age of sail. Pimlico. p. 33. ISBN 0-7126-6660-5.
  5. ↑ Wald, Erica (5 May 2009). "From begums and bibis to abandoned females and idle women". The Indian Economic & Social History Review. 46 (1): 5–25. doi:10.1177/001946460804600102.
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