PUNJAB FRONTIER FORCE.
187
Mr. Allen reports that both light and ventilation were defective in
the lines. The state of cleanliness was satisfactory. The sick of the regi-
ments at this station are treated in a general hospital. On this point
the Deputy Surgeon-General writes as follows, viz.—"I must express my
opinion as being against this system of massing the sick. Only the neces-
sity of limiting the space occupied by the troops when the cantonment was
first formed can speak in favor of it. It cannot be advisable, on sanitary
grounds, to treat the sick of three regiments under one roof. In this country
I think the less the sick are massed, the better. However large the building,
when a number of men are collected, the atmosphere is far more likely to be
contaminated than smaller buildings with fewer sick." The wards were
thoroughly clean, and everything in them neatly arranged. The hospital
equipment was complete, and the sick appeared to be carefully attended to.
T h e r e w a s n o b a t c h - r o o m a t t a c h e d t o t h i s h o s p i t a l .
3rd Regiment Sikh Infantry—Kohat.
I. Medical Officers.—The regiment was in charge of Surgeon C. J.
McCartie from 1st January to 28th November, when
Sur geon R. Power assumed
medical charge and remained
With the regiment till the
end of the year. The latter
officer has furnished the
following report:—
II. Location and movements.
— T h e r e g i m e n t w a s s t a t i o n e d a t
Kohat during the whole year.
It supplied detachments to the
Bahadur Khel outpost—strength
59—from 3rd January to 9th
March and from 3rd July to 8th
September.
IV. Meteorology and climate. —There are no instruments supplied, except a common
thermometer. The records of temperature have not been kept. The year has been a mild one,
and the rainfall small.
V. Lines, barracks, &c.—Vide report for 1875. Nothing has yet been done with
regard to the lines, which have been condemned and reported as unfit for habitation.
IX. Diet.—The men find their own food, chiefly from the regimental bazar. Flesh
meat and vegetables are procurable in the city at a cheap rate: all articles of diet are cheap
and abundant.
X . Clothing.—The clothing of the men has received particular attention. Each recruit,
o n
j o i n i n g t h e r e g i m e n t , i s s u p p l i e d w i t h a g o o d r e z a i , a d u r r i e , p o s h t e e n a n d g r e a t - c o a t .
XI. Duty and employment.—The duty of the native soldier has increased considerably of
late years; still I do not think it excessive, as he has 3.71 continuous nights in bed.
XIV. Hospital.—Two large and four small rooms in the station hospital. The accommoda-
tion is sufficient. The building was originally intended for European soldiers, and is much larger
than those allowed for native troops. It is built on a stony plateau elevated above the rest of
cantonments, and the means of ventilation being many, it is admirably suited to the hot weather
months; but in the cold weather, the air circulating too quickly, has not time to be warmed
by the one stove placed in the middle of the room. One stove in so large a room is quite
insufficient, and is only able to raise the temperature a few degrees above that of the external
air. A second stove has been added to one of the wards, and both having been set in motion,
the temperature in a, few hours mounted from 55° to 74°. The two maunds of wood, a
whole day's allowance, were consumed in four hours. From this it is evident that an addi-
tional stove should be erected in each ward in the hospital, and an extra maund Of firewood
allowed daily. The native soldier, accustomed as he is to his small, badly-ventilated hut, is
unable to bear the cold of a large and thoroughly ventilated hospital without sufficient appli-
ances for heating, and, when weakened by disease, he is much less so.
XV. Sickness, mortality and invaliding.—Strength of the regiment:—
Present
6 7 7 . 4 0
Absent
5 2 . 7 9
Total
7 3 0 . 1 9
YEAR.
STATION.
PER CENT. OF STRENGTH.
Admissions. Deaths. Daily sick.
1871
Dera Ghazi Khan, De-
cember 1868, from
P e s h a w a r .
158.6
2.6
4.1
1872
Dera Ismail Khan, Feb-
ruary 1872.
207.9
2.8
4.9
1873
Ditto ditto
158.4
2.5
4
1874
Ditto ditto
198. 6
2
4.3
1875
Kohat, January 1875
209.96
3.27
3.90
Average
186.69 2.63
4.24
1876
Kohat
133.45
1.36
2.40
Medical
Officers.
Location and
movements.
Meteorology
and climate.
Lines,
barracks, &c.
Diet.
Clothing.
Duty and
employment.
Hospital.
Sickness,
mortality and
invaliding.