126
MEDICAL AND SANITARY REPORT OF THE NATIVE ARMY OF BENGAL.
Clothing.
Duty and
employment.
Exercise, &c.
Marches and
service.
Hospital.
Sickness,
mortality and
invaliding.
Principal
causes of
sickness.
Principal
causes of
mortality.
Vaccination.
X. Clothing.—In the hot weather the men wear drill, and in the cold, cloth. These are
sufficient and suitable to the climate, seasons, and duties. Native shoes are worn, and are very
comfortable.
XI. Duty and employment. —These consist of the ordinary parades and guards: occasion
- a l l y e s c o r t s a r e f u r n i s h e d . T h e d u t i e s h a v e b e e n v e r y h e a v y i n c o n s e q u e n c e o f a d e t a c h m e n t ,
numbering almost as many as a wing, having been absent at Amritsar since the arrival of the
regiment from the camp of exercise.
XII. Exercise, &c.—A horizontal ladder has recently been erected, at which it is incum
- b e n t o n t h e r e c r u i t s t o p r a c t i s e g y m n a s t i c s d a i l y . T h e s e p o y s a r e e n c o u r a g e d t o d o s i m i l a r l y ,
but they do not indulge much in gymnastics. Gardening is not much practised amongst
them.
XIII. Marches and service. —The regiment was at the Delhi camp of exercise from the 1st
January to the 27th, when it commenced its march to Meean Meer, where it arrived on the 28th
February.
XIV. Hospital.—This, which is an excellent one, capable of accommodating a hundred
patients, has been described in previous reports, so that it is necessary merely to give an account
of the changes that have taken place in the hospital accommodation during the year. Two
new pucka isolated buildings have been erected for the reception of epidemic cases. These
are lofty, and each is capable of containing eight patients. A new dead-house has also been
constructed. New latrines have been formed, and the old one removed. Quarters for five
native medical subordinates and for the hospital servants have been added. The hospital
and its appendages appear to me excellent in design, and everything that could be desired for a
native infantry regiment.
XV. Sickness, mortality aid invaliding. —Strength of the regiment—
Present
6 3 6 .
Absent
59.2
Total
6 9 5 . 2
STATION.
PERIOD.
Strength.
TOTAL NUMBER
O F
Daily
average number of sick.
PER CENT. OF STRENGTH
PER ANNUM.
From
To
A d m i s -
s i o n s . Deaths.
A d m i s -
s i o n s . Deaths. Da i l y
average sick.
Head-quarters at Camp Delhi
and at Meean Meer
1st Jan. 1876 31st Dec. 1876 393.3 856 4 22.3 217.64 1.01 5.67
Depôt at Meean Meer
Ditto
27th Feb. „
188
89
15.7 90.49
8. 35
Detachment at Amritsar
25th Feb. 1876 31st Dec. „
245 491 3 11.3 235.84 1.43 4. 61
TOTAL
636 1,436 7 33.9 225.78 1.10 5.33
Number of deaths n hospital 7; out of hospital 2; total 9; per cent. of total strength
1.29
„ invalided 31; „ „
4 . 4 5
„ sent on sick leave 18; „ „
2.58
„ of days spent in hospital 12,429; per admission 8.65; per man of total strength
17. 88
„ „
on sick leave 2,286; per man 127; „
„
3.28
Total temporary loss of service per man of total strength
21.16
XVI. Principal causes of sickness. —The disease which has yielded the largest number of
admissions during the year is ague, from which there were 960 cases. On looking over the
returns of former years, I find that the number of cases admitted for malarious fevers has been
much the same during the past three years, whilst the regiment has been stationed at Meean
Meer, and very much larger than in either of the two previous years, when it was at
Peshawar. Next in order of frequency, as causes of admissions, come diseases of the chest, being
pneumonia, acute and chronic bronchitis, bronchial catarrh, and pleurisy, which altogether
number 55 cases. The comparatively larger number of admissions from pneumonia is remarkable,
and probably due to the rapid changes of temperature that take place during each 24 hours in the
Punjab. There have been 44 cases of ulcer during the year. Having had only a very short ex
- p e r i e n c e o f M e e a n M e e r , I a m u n a b l e t o s p e a k w i t h a u t h o r i t y a s t o a l l i t s c a u s e s ; b u t i t a p p e a r s
to me, from observing the few cases now in hospital, and comparing their appearance with that
of the so-called "Delhi sore," that the two diseases are very similar. Dysentery and diarrhœa
have yielded, respectively, 42 and 12 admissions. The frequency of these diseases is probably
in great part due to the drinking-water, no means having been adopted for its purification.
There were 25 cases of blister of feet. Syphilis produced 18 admissions, 15 of the
primary and 3 of the secondary type.
XVI. Principal causes of mortality. —Of the 9 cases that proved fatal in hospital during
the year, 5 were due to pneumonia, 2 to remittent fever, 1 to ague, and 1 to phthisis
pulmonalis. The type of pneumonia seems to have been of a very grave character, since there were
only 18 admissions from this disease; but I am unable to state if there had been any special
cause acting to which this excessive mortality was due.
XIX. Vaccination. —There were 27 cases of vaccination during the year. Of these, 11
were in persons who had borne no marks of previous vaccination, and all were successful, a
perfect vaccine pustule having been produced in each case. Sixteen were persons in whom