56
MEDICAL AND SANITARY REPORT OP THE NATIVE ARMY OP BENGAL,
Clothing,
Sickness,
mortality and
invaliding.
X. Clothing. —The men wear laced shoes with broad tongues, and they suit them very
well, as there have been only five admissions for blistered feet during the year .
XV. Sickness, mortality and invaliding.—Strength of the regiment :—
Present
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
569 54
Absent
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
141.46
Total
.
.
711.00
S T A T I O N .
PERIOD.
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 Kherwarra 1st Jan. 1878 31st Dec. 1878
373.13
689
7
15.33 184.65 1.87 3.57
Detachment at Kotra.
.
Ditto
Ditto
114.99
192
3
5.24 167.06 2.60
3.57
Ditto at Oodeypore.
Ditto
Ditto
59.79
115
2
1.85 192.34 3.34
3.09
Ditto at Banswara .
Ditto
Ditto
21.60
29
...
.52 134.25
. . .
2.41
TOTAL
.
...
...
569.54 1,025
12
22.94 179.96 2.16
4.02
Number of deaths in hospital 12; out of hospital 7; total 19 ; per cent. of total strength .
.
2.67
, ,
i n v a l i d e d 1 6 ;
, ,
, ,
.
.
2.25
,,
sent on sick leave
. . . . . . 3 ;
„
,,
.
.
.42
,,
of days spent in hospital 8,395; per admission .
8.19; per man of total strength .
.
11.80
,, on si ck l eave 47; per man . 15. 66; „ ,,
.
.
.07
Total temporary loss of service per man of total strength
.
.
11.87
Principal
causes of
sickness.
Principal
causes of
mortality.
Epidemics.
Medical
Officers.
Location and
movements.
XVI. Principal causes of sickness. —Malarial fevers are the chief cause of admissions to hos
-pital, and guinea-worm comes next with 128 cases, which is a much larger number than usual.
XVII. Principal causes of mortality.—There were 8 deaths from cholera during the year, but
no cases occurred in the lines or in the station. Pneumonia caused 2 deaths, pleurisy 1 death,
and hydrophobia 2 deaths. None of these call for any particular remark, except that in one of
the cases of hydrophobia the man had been bitten nearly a year previously, and the poison
must have been about twelve months in his system before taking effect.
XVIII. Epidemics. —A detailed report of the epidemic (cholera) which took place in June
last has been already sent in, so that a few remarks on the subject are all that is necessary. It
was originally imported by sepoys returning to head-quarters from infected villages, who were
kept in quarantine outside cantonments, and while there, were apparently infected by one of
their number, who had only just recovered from an attack. Two other sepoys were attacked
while keeping guard on the roads leading from infected villages, to prevent their inhabitants
coming into the station, and the mehter who attended the sick sepoys was himself attacked.
Two cases of cholera occurred in the Kotra detachment, and one case in the Banswara detach
-ment, both traceable to infection from people in the bazars, and after the sepoys were pre
- v e n t e d g o i n g t h e r e , n o f u r t h e r c a s e s o c c u r r e d . M e d i c i n e s e e m e d t o b e o n l y o f u s e w h e n g i v e n
at the very onset of the disease. A poultice made from the flowers of the dák tree, placed over
the abdomen, appeared to promote the secretion of urine in cases of suppression of urine during
the reactionary stage of cholera.
Bhopal Battalion—Sehore.
I . M e d i c a l O f f i c e r s .
— T h e h e a d - q u a r t e r s o f t h e b a t t a l i o n w e r e i n t h e
.
medical charge of Surgeon
- M a j o r F . — O d e v a i n e , F . R . C . S . ,
from 1st January to 4th
March, when Surgeon-Major
W. E. Allen, F.R.C.S., resum
- e d m e d i c a l c h a r g e o n r e t u r n
from furlough, and who also
writes the annual report.
II. Location and movements. —
The head-quarters remained at
Sehore from 1st January till 25th
November, when the battalion
proceeded by marches to Itarsi, on
the Great Indian Peninsular line,
72 miles distant; thence by rail
way to Jhelum, arriving 11th December, and forward by regular marches to Nowshera, at
which place it arrived 22nd December, and remained till the end of the year.
YEAR.
STATION.
PER CENT. OF STRENGTH.
Admissions. Deaths. Daily sick.
1873
. Sehore.
.
.
62.7
2.43
1.88
1874
.
Ditto.
.
.
60.1
.43
1.44
1875
.
Ditto.
.
.
61.02
1.90
1.30
1876
.
Ditto
. . .
59.02
1.13
1.33
1877
.
Ditto
.
.
.
117.58
.85
2.08
Average
72.08
1.36
1.60
1878
. Sehore .
.
.
.
141.79
1.71
3.02