Food and clothing.
Duties, exercise . and amuse-
ments, their effects on health.
Mortality.
Epidemics.
20
MEDICAL AND SANITARY REPORT OF THE NATIVE ARMY OF BOMBAY.
5. The food supply has been a little better than in the preceding year, though the
price is still kept almost to the same rate as mentioned in last.
year's report. The clothing is the same, therefore it is not
necessary to. repeat its description.
6. In the report of the preceding year the duties of the
Sappers were said to be. heavy.
At present there are about 55 men of the 11th Regiment N. I. located here for duties in
the Kirkee . Cantonment, which lightens the Sappers' work to some extent. There is a
gymnasium, and a European Non-Commissioned Officer is told off to instruct the men in
gymnastic exercise. The time of the men might also be well employed in gardening in the
vicinity of their lines, if some kind of inducement were held out to them.
7. A description of the hospital having been fully given in the reports of previous
Hospital and its immediate
surroundings, present condition
and otherwise.
years, I consider it unnecessary to repeat it here. The objec-
tionable system of clay washing the floors of the hospital,
so frequently condemned in former reports, is still practised.
8. The general health of the men who went on field service with the Malta expedition
General health and physique.
suffered considerably, and on their return from Cyprus many
were invalided. Of those who remained at home the general
health showed no improvement on that of the previous year.
Several cases of the admissions from fever . have exhibited enlargement of the spleen
and a great number of children have suffered from affections of the spleen.
9. The proximity of the lines to the sloping banks of the river, and the incomplete
Influence of climate or local
circumstances on health.
drainage for carrying off the surplus and waste water from the
tanks, as well as the want of surface drainage for carrying away
the storm water, have in my opinion an unfavourable influence
on health.
10. The number of admissions were 1279, of these 684 were from ague, being more than
Details of treated.
50 per cent. of the total admissions, 59 from lung diseases, 32
from diarrhoea, an d 50 from dysentery.
11. Four deaths took place in the hospital, 2 from
pneumonia, 1 from dysentery, and 1 from bronchitis. Two deaths
took place amongst the men who went to Malta.
12. There were no epidemics during the year in the
regiment.
13. Primary vaccination was fully practised. At the end of the year there were 9
Vaccination and re- vaccina-
tion .
children unprotected : they were all too young for the opera-
tion. Re-vaccination was not performed in any instance.
14. A greater number of men were invalided than in former years. 43 men were
Invaliding.
invalided at head-quarters and 10 at Aden,—38 for old age
and debility . 7 for lung diseases, 3 for injuries, 2 for diseases
of the nervous system, and one each for rheumatism, eye, and heart diseases.
Requirements and recommend-
ations.
15. I would strongly recommend the floors of the hospi-
tal to be reconstructed and asphalte laid down both in the
wards and in the verandah.
16, Under this medical charge there is a portion of the 43rd Company of Royal
Special observations, new expe-
rience in treatment, sanitation.
Engineers, consisting of 14 Sergeants and 23 Corporals, and
of these 27 are married men with families. The medical returns
of the above are forwarded direct to the Surgeon General,
British Forces, and the medical returns of the European Officers attached to the Sappers and
Miners are also rendered to the British Medical Department. The medical charge of the
Native Followers of the Royal Artillery stationed at . Kirkee, consisting of about 318 men,
have been transferred to the Assistant Apothecary in charge of the old Sappers Hospital,
Kirkee. The existing arrangements of the medical treatment of the 43rd Company Royal
Engineers are very unsatisfactory. Some of the Company are quartered at new Jhansi, and
others at Kirkee. The latter receive out-door treatment from the Assistant Apothecary in
charge of the old hospital at Kirkee, and the families when sick are visited in quarters by the
medical officer of the Sappers, who may thus be obliged to go from one place, to the other
several times in the day or night.