38
MEDICAL AND SANITARY REPORT OF THE NATIVE ARMY OF BOMBAY.
14. Thirty-seven men were invalided during the year. Of these, 5 were time expired
(over 32 years' service), 21 were pensioned, 6 received gratuity,
and 5 recruits (without gratuity) were discharged.
Invaliding and its causes.
Requirements and recommend
-ations.
15. A small latrine for the contagious hospital, and a
wall round hospital assistant's quarters.
16. The head-quarters and left wing stationed at Mhow during the year presented no
special peculiarities, but it is noteworthy that the native
infantry stationed at the north end of the cantonment on the
level of the plain suffered comparatively little from mild ague,
while the Europeans at the south end, about two miles' distance on raised ground 80 to 100
feet above the level of the plain, suffered numerously from ague of a severe type during the
autumn, though the conditions of the neighbouring surroundings are apparently the same.
Inspection by Deputy Surgeon General HEWLETT.
The head-quarters and right wing was stationed at Mhow until the 27th March, when it
marched to Indore, where it remained until the 22nd December when it returned to Mhow.
The left wing arrived in Mhow from Malegaon on the 16th March 1879. Lines are old and
very dilapidated, some of them are apparently about to fall, as the supports have given way
and the eaves present an undulating appearance. The streets between the lines are much too
narrow for efficient perflation. In the huts the only ventilation is through the roof, tiles,
and doors, some of which were only 4 feet high. All sullage from married quarters sinks
into the subsoil, which must be kept constantly damp and therefore become a fruitful source
of malaria. The urgent necessity for subsoil drainage in native infantry lines impresses
itself on me at every inspection I make. The hospital is in too close proximity to the lines
lately occupied by the 6th Regiment, which intervene between the lines of the 13th and the
hospital. It was fairly well organised. The diaries of cases are kept in the handwriting of
the medical officer. The accommodation provided is sufficient in ordinary times. The
health of the regiment has been fairly good, and the medical officer notices in his report the
fact that whilst the European troops on the higher level at the south end of camp suffered
severely from ague during the autumn, the sepoys in his regiment in the more sheltered
positions of their lines were, comparatively speaking, free.
15th Regiment N. I.
AHMEDABAD.—In medical charge of Surgeon Major E. P. BURROWS.
Average Strength . . . 700
Deaths in Hospital . . . 11
Do.
Present . . . 645
Do.
out of Hospital . . .
5
Admissions . . . 1,345
Invalided . . . 34
Daily Sick . . .
57.7
Sick Leave . . . 17
Year.
Station.
Rate per cent. to Average Strength
Present of
Admissions. Daily Sick.
Deaths in
Hospital.
1876 . . . Ahmednagar . . .
67.8
3.3
0.7
1877 . . .
Do. . . .
101.3
2.9
1.2
1878 . . .
Do.
. . .
124.3
3.5
2.2
Average . . .
97.8
3.2
1.4
1 8 7 9 . . .
Ahmedabad . . .
208.5
8.9
1.7
Special observations, new ex
-periences in treatment, sanitation.
Location.
1. The regiment has been stationary at Ahmedabad.
A detachment of 56 men has been furnished to Sadra throughout the year.
2. The lines are in good repair, but of old construction without plinths or roof
ventilation. They are badly situated, being shut in to the
westward by the cantonment bazaar, in close proximity with
broken ground, and latrines intervening. The dead level upon which a considerable portion
of the pendals stand will always render their drainage unsatisfactory, but it has during
the past year been made as good as practicable. Open tiled channels from married men's
quarters, communicating with open central drains, have been constructed throughout under
Lines.