130
Medical
Officers.
Location
and
movements.
MEDICAL AND SANITARY REPORT OF THE NATIVE ARMY OF BENGAL.
3rd Goorkha (The Rumaon) Regiment—Almora.
Surgeon-Major G. M. Govan, M.D., has been in medical charge of the re
-
giment throughout the year,
and has written the annual
sanitary report.
First class hospital assistant
Soondar Lall joined the regiment
on the 3rd July 1862; is now
in medical charge, detachment
of 3rd Goorkhas at Pithora
-
garh. Second class hospital assis
-
tant Runjeet Singh joined the
regiment on the 27th October
1871, is now at head-quarters,
Camp of Exercise, Delhi. Second
class hospital assistant Behary
Singh joined the regiment on
the 30th October 1875, is now
left behind at Almora with the
depôt of the regiment.Third
class hospital assistant Abdool Mahmood Khan joined the regiment on the 8th October
1872, is now at head-quarters, Camp of Exercise, Delhi. Native medical pupil Chookhey Lall
joined the regiment on the 30th July 1874, was at head quarters at Almora up to 29th May,
when he proceeded to Patna Medical School. Native medical pupil Buldeo Pershad joined the
regiment on the 9th July, and has been at head-quarters up to date.
II. Location and movements.—The head-quarters of the regiment, averaging 445.95,
has been stationed at Almora from commencement of the year until 12th November, when
it marched for the Camp of Exercise, Delhi. A detachment averaging 111.07 strong has
been stationed throughout the year at Pithoragarh, and was relieved every four months. A
detachment averaging 64.45 has been stationed throughout the year in Naini Tal. A small
detachment averaging 27.61 has been stationed at Ranikhet. When head-quarters marched
from Almora for the Camp of Exercise, Delhi, a detachment of 90 men remained behind at
A l m o r a .
YEAR.
STATION.
PER CENT. OF STRENGTH.
Admissions. Deaths. Daily sick.
1870 . . .
Almora, April 1866,
from Bhootan.
89.4
.7
3.9
1871 . . .
Ditto ditto . . .
95.6
1.8
3.12
1872 . . .
Ditto ditto . . .
79.2
2.06
3.93
1873 . . .
Ditto ditto . . .
106.6
.71
4.49
1874 . . .
Ditto ditto . . .
93.9
.69
.15
Average . . .
92.94
1.19
3.12
1875 . . .
Almora . . .
102.05
.41
4.44
Meteorology
and climate.
Marches and
services.
Hospital.
Sickness,
mortality and
invaliding.
IV. Meteorology and climate. —This season has not been marked by any peculiarities,
except that in Almora itself this year, as well as last, the rains have been heavier than usual,
and there has been more cloud and mist drifting through the station, rendering the climate
during the rains damper than usual. In former reports I have stated that the climate of
Almora is considered to be, especially during the rains, a particularly dry one, far more so than
that of Naini Tal, Ranikhet, or, indeed, than any other bill sanitarium in India; but for the
last two rains, the climate has been anything but dry, even damper than Naini Tal. This alter-
ation of climate may be accounted for by the fact that within the last few years the trees in
the station have been vastly increasing in size and numbers.
XIII. Marches and services. —The regiment marched for the Camp of Exercise, Delhi, on
the 13th November, all sick being left behind at Almora. Throughout the march and
manœuvres of the camp the regiment has been healthy, the daily average sickness from 13th
November to 31st December being about 15.14 (strength at head-quarters 491.00); the
majority of these not being regular cases of sickness, but sore feet, the result of marching and
drilling with inferior boots and without stockings. A few rather severe cases of dysentery
occurred, which I consider to have been occasioned by the change of diet from that of the hills
to the plains, especially to the great quantities of crude vegetables consumed, many being in a
state of semi-decomposition, being procured in this state at cheaper rates. Some of this
sickness may also have been occasioned by the employment of chabena, which is at no time a
very wholesome article of diet, especially to Goorkhas, who never employ it in cantonments, nor,
indeed, except on occasions such as this,—when being out from early morning till late at night
they are without the means of cooking for very many hours together.
XIV.Hospital. —The quarters referred to in the report for 1874 have not yet been
commenced, and are much needed, there being now, as compared with the circumstances of
the report of 1872, medical pupils to provide with accommodation.
XV. Sickness, mortality and invaliding.—Strength of the regiment—
Present
.
.
. 634.03
Absent . . .
90.73
Total . . . 724.76