Garrison hospital Mentok

The garrison hospital 2nd class at Mentok (Muntok) on theisland of Bangka is mentioned in the publication of D. Schoute “De Geneeskunde in Nederlandsch-Indie in de 19e eeuw”, GTNI 75 (1935) 10, 827. The article referred to a survey of  all the military facilities in 1867 . In that year the garrison  hospital of Mentok had on average 84 inpatients. The hospital was part of the Military Medical Service (MGD),  which in 1867 (the year of the survey of all military facilities) managed a total of 79 facilities (3 large military hospitals, 35 garrison hospitals and 41 infirmaries) with on average 4,244 occupied beds. Some 25 years later, the Annex D of the Koloniaal Verslag 1890 reports a total  of 3,358 inpatients by the end of that year, whereas 52,631 patients have been admitted for the whole of the Netherlands Indies. The report concerns 28 military hospitals, 54 ziekenzalen (infirmaries) and 6 specialized facilities. The average occupation rate of the Mentok hospital is then 12 inpatients, whereas 398 have been admitted that year. The situation by the end of the year 1890 is a presence of  2 European patients and 7 indigenous patients.

In 1900 the situation of military health facilities was: 30 hospitals, 56 infirmaries and 5 specialized facilities, such as reconvalescent centers and leprosy asylums. The total number of admittances was in 1899: 57,071 and the number of present inpatients by the end of 1899: 3,731. These figures were for the Mentok hospital: 211 admittances and a presence on 31 December 1899 of 7 patients (See Koloniaal Verslag 1900, Addendum A).

Muntok isin the 1930s a subdepartment, district and subdistrict with a capital of the same name of the department Bangka of the Residency Bangka en Onderhoorigheden (Bangka and Dependencies) functioning under supervision of a Controleur BB. The subdepartment has 31,000  inhabitants, of whom 300 Europeans and 9,000 Chinese. The town was until 1913 regional capital, but lost its importance since that time (Gonggryp 1934,  894).