170
MEDICAL AND SANITARY REPORT OF THE NATIVE ARMY 0F BENGAL,
Diet and food
supply.
Hospital.
Sickness,
mortality and
invaliding.
IX. Diet and food-supply. —The quality of food was good; but prices were high. The prac-
tice of under-feeding is not common in the regiment, but duringthe past unhealthy season the
men were required to eat more liberally than usual; meat two or three times a week. This was
impressed upon them, and goats were supplied (on payment) to the recruits and those in hos-
pital (Sikhs), so that they might have no difficulty in procuring meat.
XIV. Hospital.—At Dera Ismail Khan the regiment occupied the old station hospital,
described frequently in former reports. As the regiment was the sole occupant, the accommoda-
tion was ample for the sick, but it is a large, gloomy building, badly lighted and ventilated, and
the roof infested with bats.
XV. Sickness, mortality and invaliding.—Strength of the regiment
—
Present
.
.
.
.
.
.
..
.
.
.
.
605.17
Absent
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
129.62
Total
.
. 734.79
STATION.
PERIOD.
Strength.
TOTAL NUMBER
OF
Daily
average
number of
sick.
PER CENT. OF STRENGTH
PER ANNUM.
From
To
Admis- si ons. Deaths.
Admis-
sions. Deaths.
Daily
average
sick.
Head-quarters at Dera Ghazi
Khan.
1st Jan. 1878 31st Jan. 1878 436.56
40
...
8.04 107.85
. . .
1.84
,,
marching to
Dera Ismail Khan.
1st Feb. „
25th Feb.. „
429.68
34
..
11.28 115.52
...
2.61
, ,
at Dera Ismail
Khan.
26th „
„
31st Dec. „
478.88 1,097
1 3
41.74 270.59 3.20
8.71
Detachment at Quetta and
Khelat.
1st Jan.
„
13th Mar. „
277.54
103
3
11.72 188.16 5.48
4.22
, ,
at Manghi and
Draband.
2nd Mar. „
31st Dec. „
41.34
15
1
.51
43.42 2.89
1.23
„
at Sheik Budin
25th April „
7th June „
94.
7
. . .
.59
61.78
...
62
3rd Aug.
„
25th Oct. „
42.51
21
...
2.14 214.72
...
5.03
, ,
at Zam and
Girni.
3rd June „
9th Aug.
„
3 3 .
25
...
3.06 407.16
...
9.27
28th Sept. „
31st Dec.
„
62.51
10
...
1.25
61.4
...
2.
TOTAL
. .
. . .
. . . 605.17 1,352
17
40.65 223.40 2.80
6.71
Number of deaths in hospital 17; out of hospital 5; total.
22; per cent, of total strength .
.
3.
, ,
invalided .
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
19;
„
, ,
.
.
2.58
sent on sick leave . .
.
.
.
.
.
49;
„
, ,
.
.
6.66
„
of days spent in hospital 14,837 ; per admission .
10.97; per man of total strength .
.
20.19
, ,
on sick leave 2,638; per man
.
53.83;
„
,,
•
•
3.59
, ,
Total temporary loss of service per man of total strength
.
.
23.78
Principal
causes of
sickness.
XVI. Principal causes of sickness. —During the year, the admissions to hospital were
1,352, being in excess of those for the past seven years. Most of these admissions occurred at
head-quarters at Dera Ismail Khan, and were chiefly clue to fevers; 1,012 being admitted under
that head, principally from ague ( a). Intermittent fevers were very prevalent here, not only
during the autumnal season, but during the whole hot weather, the daily sick-list in June,
which is usually from 10 to 12, reaching over 50. A branch of the Indus flows close past the
lines, and its low bank on this side is covered with dense grass and tree jungle, which has been
encouraged to prevent the station being carried away by the river. This was flooded in April ; the
river then falling left the moist ground covered with a lot of vegetable débris exposed to a
hot sun, and this kept occurring during the whole of the inundation season. The heavy un-
usual rainfall will also help to account for the prevalence of malarial fever here during the past
year. Dysentery and diarrhœa gave 89 and 12 admissions, respectively, as compared with-
84 and 25 in 1877.
52 and 37 in 1873.
48
, , 51
, , 1876.
95 „ 61
„ 1872.
40 „ 25
„ 1875.
59 „ 57
,, 1871.
50 „ 35
,, 1874.
In addition to the admissions from dysentery, a large number of cases of ague, after a
few days' treatment in hospital, would be complicated with dysentery. This may have been due
in some degree to the defects in the hospital building ( vide para. XIV); but the same thing was
observed in other hospitals, and, I find, was very common in the city. Chest affections caused