Medical
charge.
Location and
movements.
Detachments.
Water and
food supplies.
Duty.
March.
PUNJAB FRONTIER FORCE.
169
4th Regiment Sikh Infantry—Rohat.
Surgeon G. McBirch Davis, M. D., held charge of the regiment dur
-
ing the year. He writes :-
II. Location and
move - ments.-The regiment was sta-
- tioned at Kohat from the 1st
January to 12th December, and
from the latter date to end of
the year on the march towards
Dera Ghazi Khan.
A detachment (59 strong)
was furnished to Fort Baha
-
door Khel from 3rd March to
8th May, and again from 5th
September to 6th November.
The sanitary circumstances
of the regiment remained
much as described in previ
-
ous reports, the arrange-
ments for the supply of water used
pronounced satisfactory. Food supplies were
plentiful and good, and. duties not excessive nights in bed 5.34 in 7. The
following brief description of the march is given :—
XIIII.
Marches and service. —The regiment left Kohat for Dera Ghazi Khan on the 12th
December and arrived at Bunnu on the 17th, where a day's halt was made, arrived at Dera
Ismail Khan on 24th, halted next day, and on the 31st December were at Towsa, and were
to halt next day. The distance marched from Kohat to Towsa was 255 miles in 18 days,
and two halts giving an average daily march of 141/4 miles.
Prior to leaving Kohat, a number of men who were not likely to be fit for duty for some
months, were sent on sick leave, and eight men were left behind as unable to accompany the
regiment ; four other men were left at Dera Ismail Khan.
Leaving Kohat with a sick list of 15 men, the regiment arrived at Bunnu with 40, at
Dera Ismail Khanwith 47, and at Towsa with 38.
The nights and mornings were very cold ; hard frost at several of the camping grounds ;
days mild. South of Dera Ismail Khan the nights continued very cold, thermometer below 32°,
with a warm day 89°. All the country had been during the previous hot weather flooded to the
depth of several feet, and was now in the process of drying up. The water at the different
encamping grounds, as a rule, was brackish, often scarce and at a distance. Fevers, dysentery,
diarrhœa and acute pulmonary affections, pneumonia and bronchitis, were prevalent. At
Dera Ismail Khan rum was, at my recommendation, procured from the commissariat and
issued to those who would drink, with, I think, beneficial effect.
YEAR.
STATION. ,
PER CENT. OF STRENGTH.
Admissons. Deaths. Daily sick.
1869 ... Edwardesabad, Febru.
ary 1869, from Dera
Ghazi Khan.
288.6
1.9
5.7
1870 ...
Ditto
ditto ...
2 5 6 . 8 3.8
5.9
1871 ...
Ditto
ditto ...
212
3.1
6 7
1872 ... Kohat, February 1872
203.1
4.4
5.4
1873 ...
Ditto
ditto...
181.4
2.3
3.9
Average...
. . . . . .
228.4
3.1
5.5
1874 ... Kohat ......
173.5
1.4
3.8
XV.
Sickness, mortality and invaliding. —Strength of the regiment., present 623.52;
absent 116.23; total 739.75.
PERIOD.
Strength.
TOTAL
NUMBER OF
D a i l y a v e r a g e n u m b e r o f s i c k .
PER CENT. or
STRENGTH PER
ANNULI.
From
To
Admis-sions.
D e a t h s .
A d m i s - s i o n s .
Deat hs.
D a i l y a v e r a g e s i c k .
Head-quarters at Kohat ... 1st Jan. ... 11th Dec. ... 597.46 901
2 22.32 159.54 0.35 3.73
Ditto on the march to Dera
Ghazi Khan
... 12th Dec.... Dec. 74 ... 692.74 138
3 35.39 363.54 7.90 5.11
Detachment at Bahadoor
Khey1
...
... 3rd Mar. ... 8th May ...
59
2
0 0.24 18.46
0 0.44
Do.
do.
... 5th Sept. ... 6th Nov. ...
59
41
0 5.04 409.15
0 8.54
TOTAL
... 1st Jan.
. . .
31st Dec. ... 623.52 1082
5 24.22 173.53 0.80 88
Sickness,
mortality and
invaliding.
Number of deaths in hospital, 5 : out of hospital, 6 ; total, 11 ; per cent. of total strength ...
1 . 4 8
, , i n v a l i d e d 2 4 ; , , , , , ,
13
37
...
3 . 2 4
, , s e n t o n s i c k l e a v e 1 9 ; , , , , , , ,
31
31
. . .
2 . 5 6
,,
days spent in hospital 8819 ; per admission 8.5 ; per man
,,
,,
. . .
1 1 9 2
,,
,,
on sick leave, 1552 ; per man. 81.68 ; „
,,
,,
. . .
2 . 0 9
Total temporary loss of service per man of total strength
...
1 4 . 0 1
XVI. Principal causes of sickness. —One thousand eighty-two admissions took place dur-
ing the year as compared with 1,062 in 1873, 1,245 in 1872, and 1,305 in 1871. Fevers, chiefly
ague (a), caused 726 or 68.36 per cent., dysentery and diarrhœa caused 50, and 35 respectively,
being less than previous years, 1871 giving 59 and 57, 1872, 95 and 61 and 1873, 52 and 37.
T 1
Principal dis-
eases.