Sickness.
Mortality.
Epidemics.
Inspection.
196
Medical
Officers.
Location and
movements.
MEDICAL AND SANITARY REPORT OF THE NATIVE ARMY OF BENGAL.
STATION.
PERIOD.
Strength.
TOTAL NUMBER
OF
Daily aver
-
age number
of sick.
PER CENT. OF STRENGTH
PER ANNUM.
From
To
Admis- sions.
Deaths.
Admis-
sions.
Deaths. Daily
average sick.
Head-quarters at Dera Ismail
Khan
1st Jan.
31st Dec.
81.22 209
1
5.78 257.32 1.23 7.11
Number of deaths in hospital 1; out of hospital none; total
1; per cent. of total strength
0.95
„ invalided
6; „ „
5.71
„ sent on sick leave
2; „ „
1.90
„ of days spent in hospital 2,118; per admission
10.13; per man of total strength
20.17
„ „
on sick leave 80 per man
40; „
0.76
Total temporary loss of service per man of total strength
20.93
XVI. Principal causes of sickness. —The greatest number of admissions was due to malariae
fevers, of which 129 cases were treated during the year.
XVII. Principal causes of mortality. —The only death in the year was from dysentery.
XVIII.Epidemics.—There was no epidemic disease among the men of the battery during
the year.
Inspection.— Deputy Surgeon-General F. F. Allen, C.B., made his annual
inspection of the hospital and lines of this battery on the 21st November
1876. He reports that the lines were the best he had seen on the frontier; they
were scrupulously clean, well wooded, and had an ample supply of excellent
water. The huts were in good repair and were provided with verandahs, and
the accommodation for the syces and grasscutters was just as good as that
provided for the gunners. The sick were treated in the general hospital, in
which there was ample space for them. The hospital equipment was complete
in all its details.
3rd Regiment Punjab Gabalry—Dera Ismail Khan.
I. Medical Officers.—Surgeon O. T. Duke held charge of the regiment
YEAR.
STATION.
PER CENT. OF STRENGTH.
Admission. Deaths. Daily sick.
1871
Rajanpur, January 1868 277.1
1
6.1
1872
Dera Ghazi Khan, Jan.
1872.
237.8
2
6.7
1873
Ditto ditto
168.8
1.2
4. 9
1874
Ditto ditto
250.9
.81
5.8
1875
Ditto, January 1875 167.3
1.22
3.71
Average
220.38
1.24
5.44
1876
Dera Ismail Khan
175.16
.61
4.82
from 1st January to 16th
February; Surgeon J.
Duke, from 17th February
to 16th June; Surgeon
T. Robinson, from 17th
June to 19th October, and
Surgeon-Major Charles P.
Costello, from 20th October
to 31st December.
The last-named Officer has
supplied the following in
-formation.
II. Location and movements.—
The regiment was stationed at
Dera Ismail Khan from 1st
January to 19th October 1876 with the exception of 12 days, from 17th to 28th March 1876,
when it proceeded into the district towards the Zam post for brigade exercise; during its
absence from the station the regiment was very healthy. On the 20th October it commenced
its march to join the Imperial Assemblage at Delhi, where it arrived on the 16th December
1876. The regiment marched viâ Shahpur and Lahore, by which route it is 49 marches
to Delhi. Between Dera Ismail Khan and Lahore the marches are long, averaging
about 15 miles in length, and up to Shahpur the roads are nominal, being generally mere
sandy tracks distinguished from the country around only by the marks of the traffic
on them. They are consequently very uneven, besides being in many places almost
covered with sand-hills. From Shahpur to Lahore the soil being more of a clayey
character, the roads, although still "katcha" are more even and tolerable. On its way
to Delhi the regiment marched over the delta of, and crossed all the rivers in, the
Punjab, viz., the Indus, Chénab, Jhélum, Ravi, Beas and Sutlej. The Indus, Ravi
and Sutléj were bridged, the rest were crossed by boats. From the Indus (close to
Dera Ismail Khan) up to the Sutléj, the regiment suffered considerably from malarious
fever, much more so than it had before it left its station. Considering the time of
year and the fact that the men were marching over the undried delta of rivers, which
were still so many producers of the malarial poison, this was not wonderful, especially
as at first the men had to be encamped on damp ground, which only a short time
before was covered by the Indus and Chénab. From the Sutlej to Delhi the health