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Problem of Indian Administration

Where the needs are obvious, the Service has been definitely handicapped by low appropriations in building institutions that will meet modern requirements. Lack of funds results in a limited cubage per patient, prevents any considerable subdivision of the hospital space, and further requires the constant building of new institutions according to old inconvenient plans.

As a general rule, an allowance of from 7000 to 8000 cubic feet per bed should be provided for the full requirements of an average general hospital, exclusive of nurses’ quarters, which require an additional allowance of 4000 cubic feet per bed.[1] General hospitals of about one hundred bed capacity, situated at a distance from large centers and supplies with the minimum of laboratory, operating, and plumbing equipment, average in cost forty-eight cents per cubic foot.

The architect in the Indian Office was asked to supply the information contained in the following table to permit of showing in more detail the actual conditions in Indian Service hospitals, especially those of more recent construction. This table shows that the Indian Service hospitals have not been planned on an adequate cubage basis, and that the average cost is greatly below the standard cited :


Hospital building costs in the average American community have shown a steady rise in the past twenty-five years. This is due in

  1. ↑ Architectural Forum, XXXVII, No. 6, December, 1922. Note that the figures refer to all the requirements, not merely to the ward rooms or separate rooms in which the beds are located.
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