210
MEDICAL AND SANITARY REPORT OF THE NATIVE ARMY OF BENGAL.
Undress clothes, but several, chiefly the . younger men, possess nothing more than the light
cotton dress of the plains: So long as the customs of natives continue to be what they are,
cases of sickness from insufficient covering and exposure will be frequent. There has been a
very great diminution in the number of admissions for blisters of the feet during the year—
viz., 12 compared with 108 in 1875. This is due. partly to the fact that the boots now
supplied are of better quality than heretofore, partly because the very light cases of abrasion
were not admitted; but merely dressed and sent to the lines for duties of various kinds which.
could be performed without wearing boots.
Duty and
X.I. Duty and employment.—The duties were not severe in 1876. They consisted of the
employment. ordinary drills and parades, musketry, guard duty, &c. With the exception of the reliefs of
the detachments at Jowai, Chargola and Alinagar, and the march back from Udalgurri,
there was neither long marching nor field work of any kind. Nights in bed average of all
ranks 6.1.
Exercise and
XII. Exercise and amusements.—Gardens are cultivated to a small extent in the lines.
aun usements. T h e s o i l i s t o o
p o o r
t o m a k e t h e w o r k r e m u n e r a t i v e , a n d f e w m e n c a r e t o u n d e r t a k e i t f o r
mere amusement. Some of the men, chiefly the Hindustanis, amuse themselves in the evenings
at athletic exercises of sorts, wrestling, single stick, throwing weights, &c. Others play-
regularly at the meetings of the station cricket club. On Sundays, nearly all who are off duty,
especially the Goorkhas and Jerwahs
'
go into the woods a few miles from the station and cut
and carry home a supply of firewood for the week.
Hospital. X1 V. Hospital,The hospital at Shillong is quite a model building, and affords ample
and very comfortable accommodation for the sick. It was put into a state of thorough repair
and whitewashed in the early part of the year. During the year, sanction was obtained for
the use of fuel in the rainy season. Owing to the heavy rainfall in the months of June, July,
August and September, and the great absence of sun, the building gets damp and cold.
Moreover, men frequently come sick from guards, &c., in wet clothes. In many cases they
have not a complete change of clothing, so it is essential that the hospital should be dry and
comfortable. Nothing can be more sickening than the smell of damp clothes and bedding.
A new hospital shed has been erected at Chargola.
Sickness,
mortality and
invaliding.
PERIOD.
TOTAL NUMBER
PER CENT. OF STRENGT
OF
Daily
PER ANNUM.
STATION.
Strength.
average
numer b
Daily
From
To
Admis-
sions.
Deaths.
i
of sic);. Admis- Deaths, average
sions .
sick.
Head-quarters at Shillong . 1st Jan. 1876 31st Dec. 1876
611
557
8
24.
91.16 1'31
3.93
Detachment,
Jowai
.
53
38
...
1'
71.70
...
1.88
„
„
Chargola .
46
54
4
1.5
117 .39 8'69
3.26
„
„
Alivagar .
46
92
...
4'3
200.
...
9.34
„
„
Udalgurri.
5th May
58
29
...
2.1
145'24
3.62
TOTAL
.
...
. . .
. . .
789'4
770
12
31'8
97 .54 1 .52
4.03
Number of deaths in hospital 12 ; out of hospital 8 ; total .
20 ; per cent of total strength
.
2.28
.
.
.
.
.
.
invalided
13 ;
. .
„
”
1.48
lf
sent on sick leave .
.
.
,
.
.
1;
..
,1
”
of days spent in hospital 11,617 ; Der admission .
15 .08; per man of total strength
.11
13.24
„
on sick leave 1S3; per man
. 183. ;
„
)3
.21
Total temporary loss of service per man of total strength
13.45
Contrasting the above figures with those of 1875 and previous years, it will be seen that
the health of the regiment has undergone a very remarkable improvement. In 1875 the
number of admissions was 1,114, and the daily number sick 43 . 9; in 1876, the admissions fell
to 770, and the daily number sick was only 31 . 8. The sickness in 1875 was considerably less
than that of previous years, so the health standard of 1876 is the best that the regiment has yet
attained. At the outposts of Alinagar and Chargola the sickness was considerable, the ad-
missions in the former averaging 200 per cent. of strength, in the latter 117 . 3. Almost all of
.
the men, who returned from Alinagar in the early . part of the year were out of health and
were admitted to hospital sooner or later for ague or affections of the spleen.
Principal
XVI. Principal causes of sickness.—The chief diseases were of a malarious nature, viz.,
causes of
malarious fevers, chiefly ague, and dysentery, diseases of liver and spleen. The number of
Sickness,
-
admissions for malarious diseases equalled 71 . 3 per cent, of the total number of admissions.
There were seven cases of cholera at Chargola and one at Alinagar, four of which proved
XV. Sickness, mortality and intaliding.—Streng,th of the Regiment
Present
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
. . . 7 8 9 ' 4
Absent
.
.
.
.
.
. . . . . . ' 8 8
Total
.
. 877'4