NationalLibraryOfScotland/medical-history-of-british-india huggingface dataset:
APP. VI. ] Measures in the Bombay Presidency and Sind,
307
was of the utmost importance to crush the epidemic with the least
possible delay, both to stay the great mortality that was taking place in
Poona and to prevent the spread of the disease to the other towns of
the Deccan, in none of which had it so far attained epidemic dimen-
sions.
5. It was finally decided by Government, after consultation with
the military authorities, that volunteers for plague duty should be
called for from among the troops, British and Native, stationed in
Poona and Kirkee. The call was readily responded to ; and it was
found that many more volunteers than were likely to be required were
willing to come forward. A plague duty camp was accordingly formed
at Parvati on the Sinhgad road, and 893 officers and men, British
and Native, under the command of Major Paget of the Durham Light
Infantry, were placed on plague duty on I2th March 1897. Of these,
122 officers and men were posted as guards at the hospitals and
segregation camps and the remainder went into the Plague Duty
Camp at Farvati. It had been contemplated to place a cordon of
native troops round Poona to prevent the egress of the public during
the operations, but the proposal was abandoned.
6. I will now describe the Plague Committee's plan of operations.
The measures which were chiefly relied on for stamping out the
plague were three in number—
(1) The removal of the plague-stricken to plague hospitals.
(2) The removal of persons who were apparently healthy, but
had been exposed to plague infection, to segregation
camps.
(3) The disinfection of houses and moveable property which
had been exposed to infection.
7. For the first of these measures the requisites were properly
equipped plague hospitals and a reliable agency for finding and remov-
ing plague patients.
The plague hospitals in use during the operations were five in
number—
(1) The General Plague Hospital at the Sangam.
(2) The Mahomedan Plague Hospital on the Shankarshet
road.
(3) The Hindu Plague Hospital near the Lakdi Pul.
(4) The Sassoon Hospital (for Europeans and observation cases
only).
(5) The Parsi Plague Hospital near the Rifle Range.
3o8
Measures in the Bombay Presidency and Sind. [ APP, VI,
Of these the first and the fourth were under official management;
while the second, third and fifth were managed by private individuals,
subject to the control of the Plague Committee. The removal of all
persons known or suspected to be suffering from plague to one or other
of these hospitals was insisted on. For finding and removing plague
patients to hospital, both military and civil agency was used, The
military agency used consisted of search parties composed of soldiers
working under the command of British officers, and attended
by native gentlemen, lady searchers and medical officers. The duty of
the search parties was to search periodically all houses and other places
where sick persons were likely to be within the area subj ect to the
Plague Committee in order to discover plague cases and unburied
corpses, All sick persons found in the search were examined by a
medical officer, and if he found or had reason to suspect that they
were suffering from plague, they were forwarded to a plague hospital.
Arrangements were made for the disposal of unburied corpses either
by the friends of the deceased or by men told off for that duty. The
civil agency used for the detection and removal of plague patients
consisted of medical subordinates who were assisted by Municipal
Inspectors and worked under European supervision. Their duty was
to obtain information by all means in their power of the occurrence of
plague cases within the local areas assigned to them, and to remove
the sufferers to hospital,
8. For the reception of apparently healthy persons who had been
exposed to plague infection there were four segregation camps—
(1) The General Segregation Camp on the Shankarshetroad.
(2) The Mahomedan Segregation Camp on the Shankarshet
road,
(3) The Cantonment Segregation Camp near the Rifle Range.
(4) The Parsi Segregation Camp near the Rifle Range.
The persons liable to be removed to a segregation camp were
the inmates of buildings which were believed to have been occupied by
sufferers from plague and also the inmates of buildings where it was
believed that any death that had occurred which had not been certified
by a medical officer holding Her Majesty's commission or some other
medical officer empowered by the Plague Committee to certify in
that behalf to be due to some cause other than plague. Persons found
in the company of a sufferer from the plague were also liable to be
segregated. The period of detention in the segregation camps was ten
days, persons found at any time during that period to be suffering
from plague were removed to a plague hospital. Segregation parties
APP. V-I. ] Measures in the Bombay Presidency and Sind.
309
composed of native infantry were appointed for the removal to the
camps of the persons liable to segregation.
9. The work of disinfecting infected houses and their contents
was carried out chiefly by military, but in part by civil, agency in
Poona City. In Poona Cantonment and in suburban limits it was
carried out entirely by civil agency. The troops employed on disinfec-
tion work were divided into fumigators and limewashers, all of whom
worked under the command of British officers. Disinfection with
perchloride of mercury and other chemicals as well as fumigation was
performed by the fumigators, while the limewashers broke up floors
and destroyed rubbish in infected houses in addition to doing the work
which gives them their name. In Poona City disinfection was only
carried out by civil agency in houses where plague cases had been
discovered by the Municipal establishment. Little limewashing was
done by civil agency in the city after the operations of the military
commenced.
10. A warehouse was opened at a central situation in Poona City
for the storage of the contents of houses from which the occupants had
been removed to hospitals or segregation camps.
11. In addition to the operations against the plague which have
been sketched above, efforts were made to keep the general sanitation
of the whole area under the Plague Committee up to an exceptionally
high standard, and special conservancy establishments were employed
for that purpose.
12. To minimise the chance of disturbances when troops were
engaged on plague duty in the city and cantonment, the streets were
patrolled by native cavalry, and during a portion of the operations a
main picquet of native infantry was stationed at a central point.
13. The Committee attached great importance to the punctual
registration of all deaths that occurred, and employed special establish,
ments both to register deaths and to prevent the secret disposal of
corpses of persons whose deaths had not been registered.
14. As it was found that plague-stricken people were constantly
removed from Poona by night, picquetsand patrols of cavalry and infan-
try were placed on some of the principal roads to prevent their egress
15. Towards the close of the operations the villages round Poona
were searched in order to ascertain whether they were infected by
plague.
16. Arrangements were made by Surgeon-Major Street in consulta-
tion with the Plague Committee for the medical inspection of all
passengers arriving at or departing from Poona by rail.
310
Measures in the Bombay Presidency and Sind. [ APP. VI.
17. A medical officer, who had been instructed by Doctor Haffkine,
was specially deputed for the duty of carrying on inoculations with
Doctor Hafikine's prophylactic lymph.
18. Plague operations in Poona City were retained by the Plague
Committee under their immediate control. Colonel Newnham-Smith,
Cantonment Magistrate, and Mr. A. H. Plunkett, C.I.E., were
empowered to exercise within the limits of Poona Cantonment and
Poona Suburban Municipality all the powers of the Plague Committee
under Nos. 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, and 14 of the rules published in Government
Notification No. 1272—765-P. of 9th March 1897. The Plague
Committee exercised, however, a general control over operations
within those areas.
19. The work done by the members of the Plague Committee
personally may be noticed at this point. The members of the Commit-
tee met almost daily (Sundays generally excepted) in March and
April to confer on questions of importance connected with the opera-
tions. After April less frequent meetings were found to suffice.
20. I conducted the general correspondence, and managed the
financial affairs of the Committee besides drafting the Committee's
rules and standing orders. I daily superintended the work of the
troops in the city and moreover exercised, as far as I could, a general
supervision over all branches of the Committee's administration.
Lieutenant-Colonel Phillipps, as long as his health permitted him, car-
ried on the Committee's correspondence with the militaryauthorities. He
daily superintended the work of the military in the city and attended
to all matters connected with the discipline and welfare of the troops,
besides assisting his colleagues in the general supervision of hospitals
and segregation camps.
Surgeon-Captain Beveridge held charge of the General Segre-
gation Camp, and for part of the operations superintended the Mahome-
dan Hospital and Segregation Camp. He also worked with the mili-
tary search parties daily as a medical officer, and in addition supervised
the issue of disinfectants.
III.—WORKS OF THE MILITARY SEARCH, DISINFECTION AND SEGRE-
GATION PARTIES IN POONA CITY,
The Search Parties.
A house-to-house inspection by military search parties has been
one of the leading features in the Plague Committee's plan of
operations, and to nothing in the campaign did they attach greater
importance. Before the Plague Committee was constitued it had been
APP. VI.] Measures in the Bombay Presidency and Sind.
3II
demonstrated by experience that there was intense aversion among
all classes of the townsfolk to the removal of their plague-stricken
relatives to hospital. Incredible shifts were resorted to to prevent
the authorities from becoming aware of occurrence of cases. Plague
patients were hidden in soft cupboards and gardens—anywhere in
fact where their presence was least likely to be suspected. Medical
attendance of any description was rarety obtained, as it was feared
that the calling in of a medical practitioner might lead to the removal
of the patient. As a rule the authorities only heard of a case of
plague after the patient's death. It was hopeless to attempt to stay
the course of the epidemic so long as the isolation of plague patients
was not effectually carried out, and this, in view of the antipathy to
the segregation of the infected which existed in Poona, could only be
done by compulsory methods.
2. The main difficulty, apart from the question of agency in the
way of the organisation of a house-to-house inspection, lay in the
religious and social customs of the Hindus and Mahomedans, who
between them make up nearly the whole of the population of the
city of Poona. The religious customs of the Hindus forbade people
of other races to enter their god-rooms and cook-rooms. The females
of the better class of Mahomedan families were all purdah women.
Among all classes of the population, except perhaps the very lowest,
there existed an aversion to the invasion of their privacy, which is
unknown in Western Europe. Again a systematic search of houses by
military agency was a novelty in Poona, and was on that account
likely to be regarded with distrust and alarm.
3. It was thought necessary that the burden of the search should
be borne by British soldiers as they were the most disciplined and
trustworthy agency that could be obtained, but it was at the same
time recognised that owing to their ignorance of the language and
customs of the natives, and the existence of customs and feelings
among the latter which we were bound to respect, they could not be
the only agency employed. It was accordingly decided that native
gentlemen should be attached to the search parties to explain to the
public the objects of the search, to act as interpreters between the
soldiers and the public and to point out to the soldiers the portions of
houses which custom forbade them to enter. It was also resolved
that the search parties should be accompanied by ladies to search
rooms occupied by purdah women. As far as possible ladies pos-
sessing some knowledge of disease were selected for this work.
4. To get volunteers from among the native gentry to accompany
the search parties, I called a meeting at the Jubilee Technical Insti-
312
Measures in the Bombay Presidency and Sind. [ APP. VI.
tule on the nth March, when 51 volunteers were enrolled. The ser-
vices of additional native gentlemen to accompany the search parties
were advertised for on I2th March and again on 16th March.
The ladies who accompanied the search parties were, with the
exception of three mission ladies who volunteered their services, paid
employe's of the Committee.
5. The manner in which the search was actually conducted will be
learnt from the accompanying printed directions for searchers (Ap-
pendix 2). They were approved by the Plague Committee on March
24th, and thereafter to the end of the operations the search was carried
on in substantial accordance with them. The directions in force
when the operations commenced were on the same lines, but less
detailed, and were found after a few days' experience to require
amplification.
6. For the purposes of searches and other plague operations the
city was divided in five sections, numbered I to V. Each section was
divided into six divisions, distinguished by the letters A to F. The
accompanying map (Appendix 3) shows the sections and divisions into
which the city was divided.
7. The " directions for searchers " were published for the informa-
tion of the public, as were the notifications contained in Appendix 4.
8. The work of the search parties in the city commenced on March
13th and ended on 19th May. In the first instance, only to search
divisions, each consisting of ten parties of three British soldiers were
employed. Each division was under the command of an officer and
had a medical officer attached to it besides lady searchers.
Each
party was accompanied by a native gentleman. The officers com-
manding the search divisions were provided with maps on which the
areas their men had to search were shown. In order that plague
patients might not be removed before the arrival of the troops, no inti-
mation as to what area was to be searched was given to the public.
The streets in which the search took place were patrolled by cavalry.
The only important complaint about the first day's work was that
doors forced open by the troops were not reclosed. This difficulty was
got over on subsequent occasions by attaching to each search division
a few native troops with hammers and staples to fasten up doors after
the searches. Search work was carried out by two divisions daily
till March 22nd, from which date up to May 19th six search divisions
worked in the city. From March 22nd onwards one of the five sec-
tions into which the city had been divided was searched daily. The
six search divisions were distinguished by the letters A to F. They
always worked in the local divisions of the sections that bore
APP. VI. ] Measures in the Bombay Presidency and Sind.
313
corresponding letters on the plague map. It, therefore, happened that
after the whole of the city had been once worked through, the search
divisions did not have to go over ground with which they were unfamiliar.
When the operations commenced, it took a search division about 4 1/2
hours to search the area assigned to it, but the work was done much
more expeditiously towards the close of the operations when the cases
discovered were few in number and the men were familiar with their
duties.
9. Up to March 22nd it was usually found possible to attach a
native gentleman to each search party. When, however, the total
number of search parties was increased to 60,.it was impossible to do
so, as the number of gentlemen who came forward for this duty
seldom exceeded 2o on any day. Thereafter two or three native
gentlemen usually accompanied each search division.
10. Of the six search divisions three were at first accompanied by
European medical officers and the remainder by men of the Hospital
Assistant class. The work of the latter, however, not being found to
be very satisfactory, they were relieved of their duties and the Euro-
pean medical officers were placed in charge of two divisions each.
The officers employed on this duty were Surgeon-Captain Beveridge,
Surgeon-Captain Lloyd Jones and Surgeon-Lieutenant Kiddle. These
officers were supplied with cash advances and had instructions to pay
compensation for any articles belonging to plague patients that might
be destroyed.
11. On May 4th the constitution of the search parties was altered
from three British to two British and one native soldier. On May
13th the strength of each search division was reduced from 10 to 7
parties. It was found that even with these reduced numbers a search
division could get through its morning's work more quickly than it had
been able to do in the early days of the operations.
12. The work of the search parties as well as of the fumigation
and limewashmg parties was carried on every morning of the week
except on Sunday. The troops usually had a march of from two to
three miles from camp before they commenced work, which was started
in the city at about 6-30 A.M. On one occasion an afternoon search
was made. It was found, however, that search work twice a day was
too much for the men, and the experiment was not repeated,
13. The house-to-house inspection was rendered difficult by the
way in which buildings in the city were entangled together, often
forming veritable mazes, and affording facilities to persons who knew
the ground to avoid search parties. The darkness of many of the
rooms in native houses made it necessary to search them by the light
of a lantern.
b 40
314
Measures in the Bombay Presidency and Sind. [ APP. Vl.
14. In order that they might exercise proper control over their
men, officers commanding search divisions were required to keep
their search parties together under their own eyes as much as possible,
the object in view being to prevent the men from loitering or getting
into mischief.
15. The attitude of the inhabitants of the city towards the search
parties was, on the whole, friendly, though people who had sick in
their houses usually tried to conceal them. The Brahmin community
was the only one whose behaviour towards the troops employed was
generally unfriendly. In the Brahmin quarters the troops met with a
good deal of obstruction, which, however, always stopped short of
forcible resistance.
16. Of the native gentlemen who volunteered to accompany the
search parties the majority did not attend regularly, and some did not
attend at all. The following are the gentlemen who arc reported by
the officers commanding the search divisions to have rendered useful
-service :—
Professor S. Moulvi of the Deccan College.
Doctor Anant Bhavanishankar.
Nabab Abdul Ferozkhan.
Sirdar Bahadar Subhedar Major Shaik Esmail, late 7th Bombay
Infantry.
Subhedar Major Shaik Umar Bahadur, late loth Bombay Infan-
try.
Sirdar Bahadur Subhedar Rajanasu, late Bombay Sappers and
Miners,
Subhedar Ramchandra, late 7th Bombay Infantry.
Subhedar Major Rattan Mehta, late 17th Bombay Infan-
try.
Subhedar Shalom Esmail.
Subhedar Vandehji Robinaji.
Of the gentlemen who have rendered the best service the majority
are retired native officers. Professor Moulvi appears to have been
specially useful in discovering concealed cases.
17. Of the ladies that accompanied the search divisions the
following rendered valuable assistance :—
Miss Bernard.
Doctor Miss L. Bernard.
Doctor Miss Crawley.
Miss Mclntosh,
Miss Dias.
Mrs. Gooclall.
APP. VI. 1 Measures in the Bombay Presidency and Sind.
315
The two first named ladies belong to the Church of Scotland
Mission, while the third is in charge of the Panch Howd's Mission
Dispensary. All three ladies gave their services without remunera-
tion, and I cannot speak too highly of the devoted work they did.
Miss Mcfntosh who had had considerable experience of plague-nurs-
ing in Hong-kong, was an invaluable assistant to the search
parties till April 18th, when she was transferred to the General
Plague Hospital on nursing duty. Miss Dias and Mrs. Goodall,
the former of whom is a local medical practitioner and the latter a
monthly nurse, proved themselves reliable and energetic as lady
searchers.
18. The result of the search work on each day of the operations
is given in Appendix 5. From March 13th to May 19th 218,124
houses were searched, and 338 plague cases and 64 corpses were
found. The houses in the city were searched on an average 11 times
each. The sufferers from the plague were removed to hospital,
and arrangements were made for the prompt disposal of the corpses.
The full value of the work done by the search parties cannot be
gauged by the number of cases they discovered. The institution of
the search by the military had the effect of causing the public to give
information to the municipal authorities of a large proportion of the
cases that occurred, and in many instances even to take patients
to hospital without official pressure having been exercised.
The Fumigation Parties.
19. The disinfection by fumigation or otherwise of infected houses
and their contents was an essential part of the Plague Committee's
scheme, Particulars of the constitution of the military fumicration
parties and of the duties assigned to them will be found in the printed
" Directions for Fumigators " (Appendix 6). These directions were
framed by the committee and published for the information of the
public.
20, When the operations of the military commenced on March
13th there were two fumigation divisions, each consisting of 10
parties and under the command of a British officer. From March
2.2nd, when the number of search divisions was increased to 6 the
number of fumigation divisions was increased to 3. On April 1st
the number of fumigation divisions was reduced from 3 to 2 and on
April 9th from 2 to 1, the number and constitution of the parties in
a division remaining unaltered. On May 6lh the strength of the
fumigation division was reduced to four parties, and on May 13th
the strength was further reduced to two parties. On May 6th the