Principal
causes of
sickness.
Principal
causes of
mortality.
Inspection.
116 MEDICAL AND SANITARY REPORT OF THE NATIVE ARMY OF BENGAL,
STATION.
PERIOD.
Strength
TOTAL NUMBER
OF
Daily
average
number of
sick.
PER CENT. OF STRENGTH
PER ANNUM.
From
To
Admis- s i o n s . Deaths.
Admis- sions Deaths.
Daily
average sick.
Head-quarters, Mooltan . 1st Jan. 1878 26th Sep. 1878 417.54 318
5 13.12 103.34 1.60 3.14
Ditto,
marching . 27th Sep. „ 7th Oct. „ 290.72 30 ...
7.45 333.01
. . . 2.56
Ditto,
Rajanpur . 8th Oct. „ 29th Nov. „ 350.5
281 ...
60.13 562.73 ... 17.15
Ditto
marching . 30th Nov. „ 31st Dec. „ 416.34 92
2 29.62 251.96 5.47 7.11
Detachment, Mooltan
. 27th Sep.
„
Ditto
. 51.19
14 ...
11.32 105.04 ... 22.11
TOTAL .
...
. . .
408.24 735
7 23.22 180.04 1.71 5.68
Number of deaths in hospital 7; out of hospital 1; total .
8; per cent. of total strength . . 1.75
„ invalided .
. .
. . . . . 11;
„
„
. . 2.41
„
sent on sick leave
. . . . . . 10;
„ „
. . 2.18
„
of days spent in hospital 8,478; per admission . 11.53; per man of total strength . . 18.65
„
„
on sick leave 688; per man . . 68.8
„
„
. . 1.51
Total temporary loss of service per man of total strength . . 20.16
XVI. Principal causes of sickness.— The regiment was very healthy in Mooltan till the
last three weeks in September, when the admission rose from 5 to 25, 66 and 35. The great
increase in intermittent fevers (579) commenced in the second week in September, and began
to subside towards the end of November ; these are the months in which it generally prevails
in this part of the Punjab, and must be attributed to local and climatic causes. At Rajanpur
the disease was at its worst in the regiment and the local population. Camp-followers, private
servants, &c., sufferred to a corresponding degree. It was attended with great disturbance
of the digestive system, violent vomiting and purging. Lieutenant McKay was sent back to
Mooltan from here from the effects of a severe attack of remittent fever, and was eventually
invalided to England. There were only 3 cases of syphilis. The solitary case of scurvy occurred
at Mooltan in January. Diseases of the digestive system 56, dysentery 33, diarrhoea 13 ;—5
of the latter at Mooltan and 8 on the march ;—of the former 1 at M ooltan and 23 on the
march. The camp-followers also suffered very severely from these complaints. Almost all
the kahars were at one time or another unfit for duty from sore-feet, owing to the bad road and
ill-fitting shoes ; 7 were so crippled that they had to be left at Dadur.
XVII. Principal causes of mortality.—Eight deaths are recorded :—1 suicide (a sowar
while lying on his bed in the early morning, loaded his carbine, put it to his forehead, and blew
away the entire top of his head) ; 1 poison by arsenic (supposed to have been caused by accidentally
taking an over-dose of the drug, by a sowar who had purchased some in the bazar to treat himself
for syphilis) ; 1 remittent fever ; 1 retention of urine ; 1 sunstroke ; 1 albumenuria.
Note.—There was no inspection of this regiment during the year.
19th (Punjab) Native Infantry—Mooltan.
Medical
Officers.
Location and
movements.
Topography.
I. Medical Officers.—The medical charge of the regiment and detachments
was held during the year by
various medical staff. The
report is furnished by Sur
-geon J. Mullane, M.D.
II. Location and movements.
— T h e h e a d - q u a r t e r s w e r e s t a t i o n e d
at Mooltan from the 1st Janu
-ary to the end of September,
when it formed part of the field
force proceeding to Kandahar and
marched to Quetta, where it re
-mained at the end of the year.
III.Topography.—The medical
topography of Mooltan has been
described in previous reports. Its
objectionable features from a sani-
YEAR.
STATION.
PER CENT. OF STRENGTH.
Admissions. Deaths. Daily sick.
1873 . Talagang, Oct. 1871 .
123.9
. 5 .2
1874 . Ditto . . . .
98.9
. 7 2 1.7
1875 . Mooltan, Nov. 1875 .
81.44
1.01
1.73
1876 . Ditto.
. .
301.17
. 7 1 3.99
1877
. Ditto
. . .
170.53
. 8 4 2.77
Average
. .
155.20
. 7 5 2.08
1878
Mooltan, and active ser-
vice in Afghanistan.
242.74
2.4
6.1