67
CENTRAL INDIA.
commenting upon the practice of treating slight cases as line sick, and the inaccuracy thereby
caused on the statistics, he proceeds in an elaborate table to add all the out-patients of
previous years to the number returned as sick in hospital, and deduces therefrom that the
regiment, far from having been, as a rule, one of the most healthy in India, has stood high in
the order of unhealthiness, with the practical corollary that the existing hospital accommoda
-tion is utterly inadequate, and must be trebled or quadrupled in order to become sufficient.
Central India has always been reported a healthy country, and that Surgeon Edis's inferences
to the contrary are incorrect, is, I think, proved by this year's returns. It does not appear to
have been an unusually healthy year, save that there was, perhaps, less fever than usual after
the rains; yet, as shewn by the following extension of Mr. Edis's table, though the average
number of daily sick in hospital has been nearly doubled by the admission of cases which
would formerly have been treated as out-patients, the total number of men treated has been
much smaller than in any previous year.
YEARS .
N u m b e r o f m e n a d m i t - t e d i n t o h o s p i t a l d u r i n g t h e y e a r .
A v e r a g e d a i l y n u m b e r o f s i c k i n h o s p i t a l .
N u m b e r o f m e n t r e a t e d a s o u t - p a t i e n t s o r " l i n e s i c k " d u r i n g t h e y e a r .
D a i l y a v e r a g e n u m b e r o f " l i n e s i c k p a t i e n t s . "
T o t a l n u m b e r s e e k i n g m e d i c a l a i d d u r i n g t h e y e a r , t h e s u m o f c o l u m n s 2 a n d 4 .
T o t a l d a i l y a v e r a g e s i c k , s u m o f c o l u m n s 3 a n d 5 .
REMARKS.
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
1868 . . .
180
10.70
733
10.30
913
21.00 Regiment at Goonah.
1869 . . .
161
9.00
1,075
24.00
1,236
33.00
Do. do.
1870 . . .
77
3.58
748
14.50
825
18.08 Regiment at Goonah till
September 26th.
1871 . . .
82
4.30
513
9.60
595
13.90
Regiment at Augur.
1872 . . .
94
3.74
494
10.00
588
13.74
Do. do.
1873 . . .
64
3.18
548
10.90
612
14.08
Do. do. till Oct.
1874 . . .
79
4.61
326
7.00
405
11.61
Regiment at Goonah.
1875 . . .
260
8.23
. . .
. . .
260
8.23
Regiment at Goonah.
The total number of days spent in hospital at Goonah by the 232 men admitted at head
-quarters was 2,694, giving a daily average sick-rate of 7.38, or 2.94 per cent. of strength
present.
XV. B. The detachment at Sihor. —Average 33.87 men gave twelve admissions, equal
to 35.43 per cent. of strength per annum. No death occurred. The total number of
days spent in hospital was 67, giving an average daily sick-rate of only .53 per cent. of strength
against 2.94 at head-quarters.
C. Detachment at Tehri.—It is doubtful whether this detachment ought to be included
in the strength present, as the men were much scattered over the country, and only received
medical aid at Lallatpúr. I have included it, however, as it was included by Surgeon Edis last
year, and a case remained to be accounted for. Its average strength was for the year, 19.14.
No admissions were reported; the number of days in hospital was 45, and the average daily sick
was .24 for the period the detachment was absent, or .12 for the year. One man, a camel
sowar, died at Tehri without medical aid; the cause of his death is unknown.
D. Detachment at Goonah.—A party averaging 66.39 men was left behind at Goonah
when the regiment marched to Delhi. It furnished twelve admissions in November and
December, or at the rate of 108.11 per cent. of strength per annum. The number of days
in hospital was 164, and the daily average sick 2.69 for the period, or 45 for the year. I
have little doubt that the remarks as to the increased rates of admissions at head-quarters
apply to this detachment.
E. The Escort of the Agent, Governor General for Central India averaged 34.03 men.
Four men were admitted, or 50.50 per cent. of strength per annum. The total days in
hospital were 35, and the daily average sick was .40. This detachment is always hard-worked,
and the fact that it furnished little more than half the admissions per cent. of strength, is to
me another proof of the trifling nature of the cases admitted at head-quarters.
Mortality.—The only death during the year was the one out of hospital at Tehri,
noticed above, making the percentage of total deaths to total strength .203.
Detachments.
3. Invaliding.—Fourteen men of long service were invalided; almost all from debility conse
-quent on old age and "want of nerve" unfitting them for the duties of a cavalry soldier. One
man, of 11 years' service, was discharged for physical disability. Owing to paralysis he was
unable to make sufficient use of his bridle-arm and left leg. Three men were sent on sick
leave, one suffering from dysentery for six months; one, necrosis for three months; and one
case of broken leg for two months.