179
PUNJAB FRONTIER FORCE.
IX. Diet.—The diet is generally good, and the bazar is kept-in efficient order; no cases
of underfeeding have come under the notice of the medical officer during the year.
Diet.
X. Clothing.—Vide report for 1874; regulation great-coats have been substituted for
chogas; no other changes have been made in the clothing of the battery during the year.
Clothing.
XI.
Duty, &c.—Ordinary; nights in bed 4.5 in 7.
Duty &c.
XIV. Hospital.—Vide report for 1875; the building is well situated and kept in excel-
lent repair; the ventilation is good, and, except in times or great sickness, the accommodation is
ample; the warming and lighting are satisfactory; each patient brings his own bedding, care
being taken it is sufficient; the charpoys are supplied by the Barrack Department; there is a
good bath-room with all necessary bathing apparatus which is much used during the hot
weather months.
Hospital.
XV. Sickness, mortality and invaliding.—Strength of the battery—
Present
156.30
Absent
9 . 7 8
Total
1 6 6 . 0 8
STATION.
PERIOD.
Strength.
TOTAL NUMBER
OF
Daily
average
number of
sick.
PER CENT. OF STRENGTH
PER ANNUM
.
From
To
-
Admis- sions. Deaths.
Admi sinns. Deaths. Daily
average sick.
Head-quarters at Kohat
1st January 31st December 156.30 421
1 6 . 7 3 269.35
. 6 3 4.3
Number of deaths in hospital 1; out of hospital 0; total.
1; per cent. of total strength
.6
„ invalided
1; „ „
.6
„ sent on sick leave
3; ,,
„
1 . 8
„ of days spent in hospital 2,464; per admission
5.85; per man of total strength 14.83
„ „ on sick leave 366; per man
122; „
„
2 . 2
Total temporary loss of service per man of total strength
1 7 . 0 3
XVI.Sickness. —This compares favourably with last year: there has been a diminution
of 16.34 in the number of admissions per cent. of strength; there has been one death and
one man invalided against two deaths and two men invalided in 1875; the total number
of days spent in hospital also shows a decrease of 371: three men were sent on sick leave
during the present year against one man in 1875, while the total temporary loss of service
per man of total strength is less by 1.16 than it was in 1875.
Sickness.
XVII. Principal causes of sickness. —Out of a total of 421 admissions, 217 have been
due to malarial fever; 42 to intestinal fluxes (dysentery and diarrhœa); 26 to colic;
28 to contusions; 24 to rheumatism, and 8 to syphilis. It will thus be seen that more than
half the total admissions have been caused by malaria alone, while dysentery and diarrhœa,
especially the former, have been prominent as causators of disease. It was noticed that these
latter were most prevalent at the time when cholera was making itself felt throughout the
Punjab: the number of admissions due to contusions is large, but this is not to be
wondered at, as the men are very liable to be kicked by the mules ; rheumatic affections
are very prevalent and are, no doubt, clue to the rigorous nature of the climate on the
Punjab frontier; the number of admissions due to syphilis is small considering the
number of diseased prostitutes who ply their trade in the city of Kohat, and that no lock-
hospital or other means of checking the disease exist; there was but one admission from
pneumonia during the year; patient recovered.
Principal causes of
sickness
.
XVIII. Principal causes of mortality.—There has been but one death during the year;
the deceased had been an opium eater, but had givin up the practice for years; for some
reason he resumed the vicious habit and (whether by accident or design is unknown) took
an overdose which proved fatal.
Principal causes of morality.
XIX.Vaccination.—None; most, if not all, are protected either by vaccination or previous
attacks of the disease: there have been no cases of variola in the battery during the year,
although the disease has been very prevalent in the city of Kohat, and several cases
occurred in cantonments.
Vaccination.
Remarks by the Comanding Officer.—" The hospital is used as a hospital
for the artillery quartered at Kohat, i.e., the battery occupying the lines in
which the hospital is situated, and the garrison battery which occupies
the fort. In. my opinion, the accommodation of the hospital (14 cots)
is not more than sufficient to meet the requirements of the battery occupying
the lines. I find from a return for the months of September, October, November
and December, that for more than 40 days was their number in hospital in excess
of the accommodation provided for it, and in the above return attendants
on the sick were not included."
Remarks
by
the Commanding Officer.
Inspection.—Inspected by the Deputy Surgeon-General of the Rawal
Pindi Circle on the 10th of November 1876. Mr. Allen considered the gunners
to be a fine body of men. He reports that the lines were remarkably clean,
and all pertaining to them were in good order.
I n s p e c t i o n .
Sickness,
mortality and
invaliding.