140
MEDICAL AND SANITARY REPORT OF THE NATIVE ARMY OF BENGAL.
Sickness,
mortality, and
invaliding.
efficient treatment; in fact, by assimilating the equipment more to that of hospitals for Euro-
pean troops, a great improvement has been effected.
Improvement has also been made in the dispensary arrangements, and a number of the
instruments which were old and obsolete, have been replaced by more modern and serviceable
ones.
Both hospital and out houses have been kept in thorough repair and water-proof, and the
former has been white-washed and coloured.
XV. Sickness, mortality, and invaliding.—Strength
of the regiment —
Present
.
.
.
.
.
. . . . .
381.21
Absent
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
74.82
Total
.
.
456.03
Principal
causes of
sickness.
STATION.
PERIOD.
Strength.
TOTAL NUMBER
OF
Daily
average
number
of sick.
PER CENT. OF STRENGTH
PER ANNUM.
From
To
Admis-
sions. Deaths.
Admis-
sions Deaths.
Daily
average
sick.
Head-quarters at Sialkot
. 1st Jan. 1877 . 31st Dec. 1877
3 8 1 . 2 1
247
3
9.29
64.79
0.78
2.43
Number of deaths in hospital, 3 ; out of hospital, 2 ; total
5 ; percentage of total strength .
. 1.09
„
invalided
. . . . .
13 ;
,,
,,
.
.
2.85
„
sent on sick leave
.
.
.
.
.
13 ;
,, ,,
.
. 2.85
„
of days spent in hospital, 3,389; per admission
13.72 ; per man of total strength
.
. 7.43
„ „
on sick leave, 1,848 ; per man
. 142.21 ;
„
„
.
. 4.05
Total temporary loss of service per man of total strength
.
.
1 1 . 4 8
XVI. Principal causes of sickness.— In his report for 1876, Surgeon-Major McKellar wrote
that the year had been an unusually unhealthy one throughout this part of India, and that
Sialkot had not escaped the malarious influence. With regard to 1877, it may be remarked, in
direct contrast, that the year was unusually healthy as evidenced by the comparative rarity of
malarious fevers and the mild character of the cases that did occur, as also by the total
absence of epidemic disease of any kind. This held good not only as regarded the population
generally, but also the regiment. The health of the men of the latter was exceedingly good
throughout the year—a statement that may not appear to be borne out on looking at the
return and comparing it with past years, but is nevertheless true ; for, although the total ad-
missions and the average daily sick show little difference, this only goes to prove the fallacy of
testing the health of a regiment by statistics alone.
In the 1st Bengal Cavalry there is no line duty and no convalescent list. Every man
who, from any trivial Cause, cannot perform mounted duty is returned as sick ; in it, as in all
cavalry regiments, a number of injuries occur from kicks, falls and abrasions, and these, while
they do not affect the health of the men, go to swell the sick list and give an erroneous idea,
unless explained, of tile actual state of health that prevailed.
In comparing the two years we find that the total admissions .were as follows :—
In 1876 .
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
316
„ 1877 .
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
247
a difference of only 69, but on comparing the admissions from different diseases, it will be seen
t h a t w h e r e a s o f m a l a r i o u s f e v e r s —
In 1876 there were
180 cases.
„ 1877
81
„
only occurred ; a difference of 100.
Slight cases of injury and diseases (as abscess, ulcers, &c.,) resulting from injuries, were;
however, numerous in 1877, and these make the daily number of sick much the same for the
two years, the average being in
—
1876
.
.
10.68
1877
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
9.29
A few words are necessary here to explain the absence of cases of blisters of the feet
(foot-sore) in the regiment. The return only shows one case now, although owing, as stated
in paragraph (X), to the fact of the boots and shoes fitting very well, as also to the additional
fact of there being very little dismounted duty to be performed, there are doubtless far fewer
cases of' blisters, of the feet in the 1st Bengal Cavalry than in most regiments; still there must
have been more than the one case recorded.
The explanation is that, owing to the small amount of dismounted duty, the men seldom
come to hospital in the first or blister stage of the injury. In slight cases they treat them-
selves, and in the more severe ones they continue to do duty till the disease has passed into an