XV. Sickness, mortality and invaliding. —Strength of the regiment :—
Present . .
. . . 667.66
Absent
.
. .
. .
. . .
. 43.06
Total . . 710.72
Sickness,
mortality and
invaliding.
Principal
causes of
mortality.
Recommenda tions.
94
MEDICAL AND SANITARY REPORT OF THE NATIVE ARMY OF BENGAL,
STATION.
P E R I O D .
Strength.
TOTAL NUMBER
O F
Daily
average
number
of sick.
PER CENT. OF STRENGTH
PER ANNUM.
From
To
Admis- sions. Deaths.
Admis-
sions. Deaths. Daily
average
sick.
Head-quarters at Almorah . 1st Jan. 1878 11th Oct. 1878 509.74 671 1
20.09 131.63
. 1 9 3.94
On field service, Afghanistan 12th Oct. „ 31st Dec. „
Detachment at Pethoragurh Ditto
. 30th Sept. „
60.92 53 ...
2.31 152.93 ...
3.79
„
at Naini Tail . Ditto
. 14th Oct. „
53.24 38 ...
.88 94.25
. . . 1.65
,,
at Ranikhet . Ditto
. 26th Sept. „
2 5 . 2 2 10 ...
.33 53.8 ...
1.30
Depôt at Almorah
. 12th Oct.„ 31st Dec. „
18.54 32 ...
1.49 777.7 ...
8.03
TOTAL .
. .
. . . 667.66 804
1 25.10 120.42
. 1 5 3.75
Number of deaths in hospital 1; out of hospital 0; total
1; per cent. of total strength
.
.14
,, invalided . ..
. . . .
.
33 ; ,, , ,
. 4.64
„ sent on sick leave . . . . . .
7 ; ,,
, ,
. .98
„ of days spent in hospital 9,167 ; per admission . 11.14; per man of total strength .
. 12.89
,,
„
on sick leave 955; per man
. 136.42; „
”
.
. 1.34
Total temporary loss of service per man of total strength . . 14.23
Principal
causes of
sickness.
Special
observations
and remarks.
XVI: Principal causes of sickness. —The year was a favorable one, there being only 1
death in the regiment. The invaliding was 4 less than in 1877, but there was 1 more (7 in
all) sent on sick leave. The total temporary loss of service per man was however 3.8 days in
excess of that of 1877. Venereal and rheumatic complaints, which appear to have a distinctive
venereal causation, are among Goorkhas always an existent and variable factor in a course of
years. The malarial and enteric affections will be dealt with further on.
XVII. Principal causes of mortality.—There was no death in the ranks; on 3rd October,
at Almorah, the Subadar-Major however succumbed to hemiplegia as a result of apoplexy.
In 1877 there were 3 deaths from phthisis and 1 from pneumonia on record.
XX.
Recommendations.—The recommendations were, that rum should be allowed to weakly
men under medical supervision ; that poshteens should be procured for sentries on guard ; and
that the jhules of camels dying be made over to hospital as bedding for the sick ; all of
which were complied with.
XXI. Special observations and remarks.—Analysing particular diseases more closely, it
appears that the men suffered a good deal at Meean Meer and Mooltan. Malaria and dysen-
tery so crippled us, that I was compelled to pick out and leave at Mooltan base hospital 34
men, 32 of whom have since rejoined at Kandahar. During the march from Khanpore to Mi-
thankote it was evident the sepoy was over- weighted, and that the new yoke equipment with
70 rounds of ammunition would probably strain the loins. I will, at a future day, enter into
this in relation to work and diet; meanwhile I merely note that the men actually carried, for
16 hours frequently, a weight of 45 pounds : on one occasion the rear guard (and a bitterly
cold night it was too) was 21 hours on the move, a double march having been necessitated, and
away again after 5 hours' halt. The majority of all ranks were engaged all the way from
Mithankote to Dadur in escorting, in addition to their own regimental baggage, 1,060 laden
commissariat camels, very many of which kept dropping several times on each march, so
that the number of miles recorded in the "itinerary " is no criterion whatever of the weary,
worn condition of man and beast on arrival in camp; the men too had to lade and unlade
all this " tale" of cattle daily and afford guards for them when grazing, watering, and in
camp. From Dadur to Kandahar 6-11 heavy battery and in addition to this from Quetta to
Kandahar 5-11 heavy battery and pontoon train were escorted. The men were constantly in
requisition, dragging the gun-ropes as the elephants sickened or died, and most of the bullocks
after a few days' work could with difficulty put their shoulder to the wheel. Besides all this,
it sometimes happened the rations had to be carried ; each man had on one occasion in his
haversack three days' food, so that he was de facto carrying 52 pounds dead weight while
marching over rough roads and working with the camels and guns as required. No one's
ammunition or accoutrements were carried for him unless he fell sick on the way, so that every
man had to bear his own burden. The tedious march from Mithankote to Dadur through the
Katchi desert told upon the men ; the chief cause, I am convinced (although the food pro-
curable was not of the most suitable character), was the saline, ferrous, hard water; the d h a l
simply would not cook, the longer it was boiled the more firmly each granule became incrust-
ed with a legumenate of potash; digestion got interfered with, and diarrhœa, dysentery
or fever was induced. The improvement was marked whenever a sufficiency of ghee could be
obtained to cook the dhal, or rice purchased as a substitute. At Dadur we struck a line of good