Hospital.
Sickness,
mortality and
invaliding.
104 MEDICAL AND SANITARY REPORT OF THE NATIVE ARMY OF BENGAL,
I believe it was caused mainly by the climatic changes to which they were subjected, for at
Cyprus they indulged largely in fruits also and had no dysentery.
XIV. Hospital.— At Malta and Cyprus tents were used for the sick,—' pals' taken from
India; and when more accommodation was needed, bell-tents were obtained at Malta; but
these afforded very little shelter, and were not at all suited for the treatment of the sick. The
'pals' were covered over with tarpaulin, and the worst cases of illness were treated in them.
The measles cases were treated in isolated bell-tents. An attempt was made at Cyprus to
procure hospital accommodation in buildings for the sick, as their distress in tents was so great ;
but it had to be given up owing to the exorbitant rents demanded for the houses.
XV. Sickness, mortality and invaliding.— Strength of the regiment :—
Present
.
. . . .
.
.
. . .
. 668.09
Absent
.
. .
. . .
.
. .
.
. 58.82
Total .
726.91
STATION.
PERIOD.
Strength.
TOTAL NUMBER
OF
Daily
average
number of si ck.
PER CENT. OF STRENGTH
PER ANNUM.
From
To
Admis- sions. Deaths.
Admis-
sions. Deaths. Daily
average
sick.
Whole regiment, Cawnpore
and en route to Bombay . 1st Jan. 1878 26th April 1878 683.89 167
1 12.41 76.80
. 4 4 1.81
Head-quarters at Sea to
Malta . . . . 27th April „ 28th May „ 371.25
37 ...
7.34 110.16 ...
1.95
Regiment at Malta . . 29th May „ 16th July „ 679.14 251 ...
28.03 275.22 ...
4.11
Head-quarters at Sea to
Cyprus . . . . 17th July
„
27th „ „ 372.
10 ...
10.45 88.26 ...
2.8
Regiment at Cyprus . . 28th „ „ 20th Aug. „ 720.
94 ...
24.76 198.47 ...
3.4
Head-quarters at Sea to
Bombay . . . . 21st Aug. „ 13th Sep. „ 524.
84 ...
33.03 243.79 ...
6.3
Regiment at Cawnpore
. 14th Sep.
„
3rd Oct. „ 565.45
64 ...
21.39 206.41 ...
3.78
Head-quarters at Jullundur . 4th Oct.
„
31st Dec.
„
401.41 459 4
35.74 468.93 4.06 8.9
Detachment, Left Wing at
Sea, Bombay to Malta . 27th April „ 26th May
„
352.
64 ...
9.33 221.23 ...
2.6
Detachment, Left Wing, at
Sea, Malta to Cyprus . 18th July „ 27th July „ 348.
10
. . .
6.70 104.75 ...
1.9
Detachment, Left Wing, at
Sea, and train Cyprus to
Cawnpore. . . . 20th Aug. „ 22nd Sep.
„
196.
51
. . .
10.26 395.72 ...
5.2
Detachment at Loodiana . 6th Oct.
„
31st Dec.
„
101.77
99 ...
10.80 413.7 ... 10.6
„
Phillour . 6th „
„
31st
„ „
4 0 .
40 ...
3.33 424.42 ...
8.32
„
Kangra . 25th Nov. „ 31st
„ „
58.16 15
1
.96 281.32 16.87 1.6
Depôt at Jhelum . . . 4th May „ 31st Oct.
„
38.45 84
1
3.83 440.54 5.2 9.9
TOTAL
. . .
. . . 668.09 1,529
7
31.45 228.86 1.04 4.70
Number of deaths in hospital 7; out of hospital 3; total . 10; per cent. of total strength . . 1.37
„ invalided . . . .
. . . .
7;
„ „
. .
.96
„
sent on sick leave
. . . . . .
4; „ „
. .
.55
„ of days spent in hospital 11,483; per admission . 7.5; per man of total strength . . 15.79
„ „
on sick leave 644; per man
. 161; „
„
. .
.88
Total temporary loss of service per man of total strength . 16.67
Principal
causes of
sickness.
As compared with former years the sickness in the regiment has been greater, and
this was due to the great climatic changes to which the men had been subjected at Malta and
Cyprus, and to their arrival at Jullundur when fever was epidemic. There were three periods
of great sickness in the regiment. First at Malta, from 29th May to 16th July, where the
men suffered much from stomatitis and subsequently from dysentery due, as before stated, to
climatic causes, as dry hot days and cold damp nights, the men being in tents at the time.
Second at Cyprus and a portion of the return journey from Cyprus to Bombay, when the
men suffered greatly from the fever peculiar to the island in summer ; at first there was an
immunity from the disease, but the effects of the continuous heat with insufficient protection
from it soon told on the constitution, and when once the hold was made the disease rapidly
increased in numbers till 58 was reached in one day. The third period was at Jullundur, where
agues were prevalent from the recent flooding of the country, and where in one day as many as
69 cases were in hospital.
XVI. Principal causes of sickness—Supervening in a manner over the mouth disease,
followed one of the bowels, and for the period of 60 days from arrival at Malta, the stay there,
and voyage of 10 days to Cyprus, 157 cases of dysentery occurred, of an acute kind, with much
tormina and tenesmus, the passage of a little mucus and much blood, but without any scorbutic
tendency in the disease. None of the cases were fatal, though several men were very seriously
ill and completely prostrate. The type of the disease was not a fatal one, and there were no
atonic causes at work, constitutional or otherwise, to render it so. The treatment of the disease
with large doses of ipecacuanha, and with opiates must have had a fair share in accounting for
the freedom from deaths.
The history of the continued fever at Cyprus is most interesting. My experience of
it was published in an article printed in the Medical Times and Gazette (London), dated 21st
September 1878. The regiment was then only beginning to feel the effects of the disease. It