Food.
Duties.
A SKETCH OF THE MEDICAL HISTORY OF THE NATIVE ARMY OF BOMBAY.
SIND DIVISION.
Average strength present during the year . . . 2,837.5
Do. daily sick per cent. to the average strength . . .
3.7
Ratio of mortality per cent. to the average strength . . .
1.1
H. M.'s 29th or 2nd Belooch Regiment N. I.
KURRACHEE.—In medical charge of Surgeon J. A. HOWELL; Strength, 627.8
1. The regiment has been stationed at Kurrachee during the year. A detachment of
151 rank and file arrived from Hyderabad on being relieved
by the 1st Belooch Regiment.
2. The regiment occupies the same lines as the 1st Beloochees did when stationed here
last year: no alterations have been made; they are fairly good.
The ventilation is good; a small bazaar near the lines; sur
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face drainage. No tanks near the lines. Sweepers are employed to remove the excreta
daily in carts, and it is buried a couple of miles beyond the parade-ground. The water-sup
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ply is brought by bheesties from the Commissariat well; it is very brackish. No analysis has
been made.
3. Food is abundant, good, and comparatively cheap.
4. The duties have not been prejudicial to the health of
the men. There is a gymnasium, where the men wrestle and
perform feats of strength.
5. There are 4 lock-up rooms; they are airy and commodious.
6. The hospital is same as that occupied by the 1st Belooch Regiment last year; it
is well situated and very commodious, having 2 large wards.
Ventilation very good. It has not been over-crowded; ac
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commodation ample. A dead-house and store-room are required. Dry-earth system adopted,
and the excreta removed daily. 2 bheesties bring water from the Commissariat well
close by.
7. 538 cases were admttted during the year, and there were 4 deaths. Ague, ulcers,
chest and bowel affections were the principal diseases treated.
Ague caused the largest number of admissions. There were 311
cases, all of a mild form, and readily yielding to quinine and
other antiperiodics. No case of remittent fever. Malarious fever most prevalent from
August to January; the largest number (54) in October, the smallest (4) in April. The
cold weather no doubt acts as an exciting cause in generating the disease, which is
latent in the system. Ulcers and contusions.—Under this heading there were 53 admis
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sions; the latter invariably result from shoe-bites, and these from neglect or in un
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healthy constitutions give rise to troublesome sores. Perfect rest, with soothing or
stimulating applications according to the condition of the ulcer, was the treatment
adopted In slight cases the men had to perform their duties under the Adjutant without
gaiters and boots; this proved beneficial in checking malingering. Rheumatism.—22 ad
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missions: most of the cases were of the subacute form, and yielded rapidly to the alkaline
plan of treatment. Chest-affections, 16 and 4 deaths; they chiefly occurred in the cold season.
The 4 deaths were—1 from chronic bronchitis, 2 from pneumonia, and the fourth from
pleurisy terminating in effusion. This last occurred in a recruit. The deceased was subject
to ague and consequently very anæmic; he was admitted on the 1st of October with symptoms
of pleurisy of the left side. A blister was applied to the chest, and diaphoretics ordered, which
caused relief; in a few days I detected slight effusion, which rapidly extended, filling in
completely the left side of the chest and causing great distress. The symptoms became so
urgent that, after consultation, I performed "paracentesis", removing 8 pints of serous fluid.
The patient improved slightly, but in a few days he gradually commenced sinking, and died
suddenly on the seventh day after the operation. There were 18 admissions from affections of the
bowels, 5 of them cases of dysentery. In two instances the disease was very extensive, but yield
-
ed to large doses of ipecacuanha. Venereal affections caused 28 admissions, 16 of them being
syphilis (primary and secondary); in most of the cases the men contracted the disease from
unregistered women. 2 men were invalided by a special committee in May, and 20 at the
annual board in November, chiefly for debility.
114
Location and Movement of Corps.
Lines.
Hospital, &c.
Sickness, Mortality, and Invalid
-
ing.