98
MEDICAL AND SANITARY REPORT OF THE NATIVE ARMY OF BOMBAY.
as there was only a medical subordinate at the station, and he had charge of the whole of
the Transport and Commissariat followers, who were dying at the rate of twenty or thirty a
day.
There were seven deaths amongst the men of the Regiment at Dadur and the neighbour-
hood, and one at head-quarters at Mach and two at Abigoom, about seven miles away. The
man who died at head-quarters, and who was the only man attacked, had only rejoined from
Dadur the very day that the disease broke out there. The two cases at Abigoom occurred
amongst part of the detachment which had been at Dadur, and which was being moved slowly
up the Pass, the number of men there having been reduced as much as possible.
It was a most wonderful thing that the Regiment had so few cases, as the disease
was raging to a fearful extent amongst the Transport Train followers all along the line of com-
muni cati on, and our men were travel l i ng wi th the dai l y trai n of carts and al so guardi ng the
stages where the train halted, so that they were in continual danger of being infected.
When the disease broke out at Dadur, I was ordered down the Pass to look after the
Transport people, and do what I could for them; but as I had no establishment and no
cholera medicines of any kind, in fact hardly any, I could do very little, and as there were
strict orders that the daily train of carts with supplies for the front was to move at any cost,
it was an impossiblity to prevent the disease reaching Quetta and subsequently Kandahar,
where its ravages were tremendous.
9. I would beg to call attention here to the almost useless character of the sick carriage
of a Bombay regiment. When leaving Sukkur the regiment
received 10 per cen., of so-called dandies and dooly-bearers. The
dandies are simply a piece of canvas about 7 feet long and 18
inches wide, suspended from a bamboo. This canvas has no sides, and it is very difficult for
a man in health to keep from falling out of it when carried over ground at all rough, and
consequently far more so for a wounded or sick man, besides being a most uncomfortable
means of conveyance, as the weight of the hips and buttocks causes the canvas to bag in the
centre with the feet and head at a much higher level than the rest of the body. The only
advantage it possesses being its lightness.
The so-called dooly-bearers were simply labourers of all kinds, domestic servants, syces,
&c., who for the sake of the good pay and rations enlisted for the campaign, but of the 370
odd men who were sent to the Regiment, I do not think that more than a dozen had ever
seen, much less carried, a dooly. Besides, numbers of them were quite unfitted for service,
many being old, grey-headed men, and others quite small boys. Also, having been enlisted
in a great hurry and sent off in batches to join the Regiment without any proper arrange-
ments being made about their pay or family remittance, they caused an immense amount of
labour in the Paymaster's office.
I would recommend that the Looshaie dandy be taken as the pattern, as it possesses all
the advantages of the dooly, as far as having an even surface for the patient to lie on; and
having four short legs, it can be used as a temporary bed, as it can be easily and quickly
detached from its pole, and so does not take up much room in a tent. The Hamilton is the
best form of dooly, as it is very light, strong, and packs into a small compass when not in
actual use.
With regard to bearers, if Government would only sanction the maintenance of a regular
corps, as in Madras, there would not be the same difficulty, as at present, in furnishing sick
carriage, nor would the expense be any greater, as the bearers in time of peace would be
always of use in the Commissariat and Ordnance Departments, and take the place of other
hired labourers, besides being far more effective in time of war than the present system of
employing untrained men.
10. Twenty men have been sent on sick leave, most of them suffering from scurvy or
anæmia, ten have been pensioned, four of these being men of
over 32 years' service; one case of insanity was pensioned from
the Lunatic Asylum, and four for general debility; one man was discharged who had never
joined the Regiment, only having reached Kurrachee; cause of discharge unknown.
11. No special treatment has been practised, as the only medicines I had were those
supplied with the field chests. I would suggest that a liberal
allowance of neutral quinine for hypodermic injection should
always be supplied, as it takes very little space, and is very effective in treatment..
Requirements and recommen-
dations.
Invaliding, and its causes.
Special treatment.