24
MEDICAL AND SANITARY REPORT OF THE NATIVE ARMY OF BOMBAY.
urine, great difficulty is experienced in keeping the latrines clean. The earthen pots intended
to hold urine repeatedly tumble down, and tend to keep the floor always damp, which is most
objectionable.
The hospital has a large and spacious compound.
There is no proper direct road between the lines and hospital.
8. During the first three months of the year the general health of the men was report
-ed good, and ague was less prevalent than in the correspond
-ing months of the previous year ; but afterwards, as the weather
became hotter, sickness increased, and the health of the regiment was only pronounced fair.
The men were employed on work in the lines—making gutters, repairing roads, building a
workshop, finishing the gymnasium, digging up ground for a plantation, &c., in addition to
regimental duties ; however, they had 31/3 nights in bed per week, so it cannot be said that
they were overworked.
General health and physique.
Influence of climate or local
circumstances on health.
9. The dry climate of Poona seems to have agreed with
the men after the relaxing climate of Surat.
10. The admissions from ague (349) were 38 more than in the previous year. The
disease was most prevalent during the months of April, May,
June, October, and December, and was, as a rule, of a moderate
type, and yielded to ordinary treatment. In very mild cases cinchonidine and the cinchona
mixed alkaloid were used, but for the severe cases it was found necessary to give quinine.
The admissions from respiratory diseases were forty-two—two from pneumonia, ten from
asthma, and the remainder for bronchitis; out of these twelve cases were of a bad type, viz.
six bronchitis, two pneumonia, and four asthma, and one chronic pneumonic phthisis. Of
diseases of the stomach and bowels sixty-nine cases were admitted, out of which thirty were
cases of dysentery, nineteen of diarrhœa, and the remaining eighteen of colic, &c. Thirty-eight
cases were admitted with venereal diseases, which includes three re-admissions ; from what
I can gather, it would appear that in the great majority of cases the disease was contracted
in the Poona city or cantonment, and not in the vicinity of the lines. Out of the total treated
two were cases of gonorrhœa, and thirty-six were syphilis, of which nine were of a bad type,
and were in hospital for a long time.
The remaining two hundred and forty-five cases from all other causes do not require
any special remark.
1 1 . O u t o f 7 8 0 a d m i s s i o n s f o u r d e a t h s o c c u r r e d d u r i n g t h e y e a r , f r o m t h e f o l l o w i n g
causes :—bronchitis with ague, splenitis with ague, remittent
fever, and malignant cholera.
12. There was no epidemic during the year, with the exception of cholera, which
prevailed in the city and cantonment for a short period, and
one case occurred in the 26th Regiment in the month of Decem
-ber, and ended fatally. All requisite precautions were adopted as to isolation, disinfection, &c.
13. Fifty-eight children were vaccinated during the year ; all the operations were suc
-cessful. Besides these, 64 recruits were re-vaccinated, of
which number 45 were successful. Vaccination was performed
in the months of January, February, March, June, and July.
1 4 . F o r t y - e i g h t m e n w e r e i n v a l i d e d , f o r t h e f o l l o w i n g c a u s e s : — R h e u m a t i c a f f e c t i o n s
14, syphilis 7, scurvy 3, lung disease 6, chronic hepatitis 1,
and old age and debility 17.
15. I suggested that a stone floor be laid down in the bathroom, and a drain constructed
to carry off the refuse water, and also that one of the three
water-pipes in the hospital compound be extended to the bath-
room, so that the sick could bathe without exposure to heat or cold ; this suggestion, I am glad
to say, has been sanctioned, and is being carried out.
The remaining requirements are as follows:—
A double-tiled roof and stone floor for the hospital; alteration and improvements of the
hospital latrines; road between the lines and hospital.
I am happy to state that 2nd class hospital assistant Gunesh Suckharam has performed
his duties to my satisfaction, and native medical pupil Hanmant Chowan is well conducted,
and is doing his best to improve himself.
Details of treated.
Mortality and its causes.
Epidemics.
Vaccination and re-vaccination.
Invaliding and its causes.
Requirements and recommend-
-ations.