Hospital
ventilation.
Hospital
drainage.
Hospital
water-supply.
General
conclusions.
Sanitary
condition of
the lines.
Sanitary
condition of
the latrines,
guard-room,
&c.
Water-
supply.
Hospital.
108
MEDICAL AND SANITARY REPORT OF THE NATIVE ARMY OF MADRAS.
Hospital ventilation very good. There is accommodation for 48 beds at 1,772 cubic feet
per bed. Thirty-three was the highest number of beds occupied on any one day. The average
daily sick for the year being 13.59 consequently there has been no approach to overcrowding.
Hospital drainage .—The drainage of the lines is fair but is rather defective in the corner of
the lines, which part of the lines is somewhat damp during the rain. Each hut has a private
latrine : dry earth or ashes are used. Excreta are removed every morning ; very little sewerage
escapes into the open earth-drains ; the greater part of the ablution water and urine soaking
into the floors of the yards. There are no public latrines or urinals.
Hospital water-supply .—The hospital water-supply is derived from same source as that of
the lines.
General conclusions .—The general health of the regiment has been good. There has been
no epidemic or undue prevalence of any particular disease. Ague is the most common cause of
sickness, but being of a mild form and amenable to treatment, it has not permanently affected
the health of the men. The total admissions during the year were 437, and contrast favorably
with those of the preceding year.
All the men of the regiment are vaccinated and only 36 children remain unvaccinated;
the state of vaccination amongst the women is unknown, there being no female vaccinator.
The water-supply failed during the hot weather, and was the cause of a few cases of dysentery
and diarrhoea; it seems highly desirable that this defect be remedied by increasing the number
of the wells.
The lines have been kept clean and free from nuisances during the year, but the plan of
each hut having a private latrine, and the urine and ablution water being allowed to soak
into the floors of the yards or surface drains, is objectionable. Public latrines and ash-bins are
required.
Deputy Surgeon-General J. R. Theobalds inspected this corps on the 24th
January 1877 and reports as follows:—
Sanitary condition of the lines .—The ventilation of the huts indifferent, chiefly through the
tile spaces and where the poles supporting tiles of roof rest on the mud walls, and a small door
for entrance into the hut. The drainage is good from the natural configuration of the ground.
I found the lines very clean; the huts are large and built detached from each other. I think
they are the best native lines I have ever seen.
Sanitary condition of the latrines, guard-room,
&c.—I found the private latrines clean:
these private latrines are mud enclosures, built up in the compounds. The excreta and urine are
passed on the ground. In the double rows of huts the latrines are placed near the division walls
between the compounds, and in the 394 compounds so situated, there is no escape for any
portion of the urine and latrine-washing water outside, and therefore must all soak into the
floors of these compounds. In the remaining 315 compounds where the drains of the latrines
communicate with the drains outside, a portion of the urine and latrine-washing water escapes
outside.
I found the guard-rooms and prison cells all in good order, clean, well raised from the
ground, and sufficiently ventilated. There are no cess-pools in the lines.
Water-supply of good quality.
Hospital.—The ventilation is very good, through doors with glazed windows in them that
can be opened when doors are shut, ridge roof ventilators, and sixty-four holes 4 inches square
in the verandah walls below the eaves of the wards. The drainage is good ; the drinking water
is good and generally sufficient.
BRITISH BURMAH DIVISION.
Average strength
...
. . .
...
...
. • .
. . . . .
...
... 3,454
Do.
do. present ...
...
. . .
. . .
. . .
...
... 2,713
Total admissions
..
. . .
. . .
...
...
. . .
...
. . .
3,022
Daily sick
...
...
...
...
... . . .
....
...
118
Deaths in hospital
. . .
...
....
. . .
. . .
. . .
...
...
22
D o. out of do. ...
....
...
. . .
...
. . .
30
Pensioned
...
. . .
...
...
....
....
. . .
25
Sick leave
...
. . . . . .
. . .
. . .
...
...
. . .
. . .
137
The following return shows the rates of sickness, deaths, and invaliding, as
contrasted with previous years :—