Drainage.
Conservancy.
Boots.
Duty.
Amusements.
Gymnasium.
44
MEDICAL AND SANITARY REPORT OF THE NATIVE ARMY OF BENGAL.
Drainage.— The drainage of the station is as good as it can be made by simple
surface drains. The whole country surrounding is more or less marshy during the monsoon.
VII. Conservancy and latrines.— The conservancy of the regimental lines is carried on
by the following establishment—24 sweepers and one bullock cart; these men are paid four
rupees a month each, ten being paid by the men, and the remainder from cantonment funds.
The refuse and excrementitious matter is either carried to the cantonment limits and buried,
or buried in regular trenches inside the cantonment. The land thus dealt with was cultivated
during the last rains and returned a first rate crop. Both public and private latrines are in
use in the regiment ; the former consists of two large well built mud huts, one for males
and the other for females and children ; they are lunch frequented and are well conserved, the dry
-earth system being partially carried out in them. The private latrines are those usually found
in the lines of Madras Native Infantry regiments in the corner of the court-yard of each hut;
this is principally used by the females, who never go outside ; they are cleaned out twice daily
by the line sweepers.
Water-supply
Diet.
Clothing.
The water-supply is from two pukkah wells, which are surrounded by
masonry platforms covered with wood. The supply of one well is abundant
all the year round ; in the other one, which is close to one of the tanks
already noticed, the water fails in the hot weather.
The men, as a rule, were well nourished and fed well ; the bazar was well
supplied with all the ordinary articles of food, and, with the exception of rice,
at a cheap rate ; vegetables of good quality were always procurable in the bazar.
X. The regimental clothing is well suited for the climate and for the
duties of the sepoy, but the private clothing of the men is hardly suited
for the cold weather at Banda. Very few of the men have suffered from
"blisters of the feet," the result of bad-fitting boots, but they have not been
on the march. The duty has been light, and the men have had an average of
5.6 nights in bed throughout the year.
A number of the men are fond of shikar of every description, and some
work in the regimental garden. A small gymnasium has been started, and the
results have been most satisfactory in the case of the recruits and boys.
Hospital.
Sickness,
mortality, and
invaliding.
XIV.
Hospital.— The hospital is the same as was used by the 15th Regiment Madras
Native Infantry; it is a good building and well suited for the purpose; its cubic capacity
allows of 35.4 beds at 1,500 cubic feet per man, and its superficial area of 41.5 at 99 superficial
feet per man; it has never been overcrowded, not more than forty being allowed to sleep in
it at a time. The maximum number under treatment was 83 on the 1st November, when four
tents were pitched to supplement the accommodation. The bedding and clothing is good,
though the regulation standard is scarcely sufficient for an unhealthy station like
B a n d a .
XV. Sickness, mortality, and invaliding.— Strength of the regiment—present 346.93,
absent 335.94; total 384.
STATION.
PERIOD.
Average
Strength.
TOTAL NUM-
BER OF
A v e r a g e d a i l y n u m b e r o f s i c k .
PER CENT. OF
STRENGTH PER
ANNUM.
From
To
Admis-
s i o n s .
D e a t h s .
D e a t h s .
Admis
-
sions.
D e a t h s .
A v e r a g e d a i l y s i c k .
Head-Quartersand Left
Wing at Banda.
1st January. 31st Decem-ber 1874. 346.93
714
5 20.75 205.8
1.4
5.9
Prevalent
diseases.
Mortality.
Number of. deaths in hospital, 5; out of hospital, 2 ; total, 7 ; per cent. of total strength . . .
1.82
" i n v a l i d e d 1 9 ; . . . 4.95
" s e n t o n s i c k l e a v e , 4 ; " " . . .
1.04
of days spent in hospital 7,500;per admission, 10.5 ; per man of total strength 19.53
on sick leave,
6 0 2 ; p e r m a n , 1 5 0 . 5 ; "
1.57
Total temporary loss of service per man of total strength . . . 21.10
XVI. Principal causes of sickness .—Fevers of an intermittent type, have, as in former
years, caused the largest number of admissions, viz., 522. This is scarcely to be won
-dered at. The regiment, having served five years in three very feverish stations, viz., Seeta-
-buldee,Chanda, and Suroncha, moved to quite a different climate, and, if anything, a more fever-
-ish one. Bundlekundhas been noted for the virulence of the fever amongst the people located
upon its black cotton soil, and in the case of the head-quarters and left wing, which suffered
so severely, the site of the lines is on this very soil, and, to increase the amount of sub-soil satu-
-ration,there is a large tank at either end of the lines. The following factors appear to have
been the principal ones in causing the great sickness :— First, want of acclimation; second,
a bad site for the lines; third, the site rendered more feverish by the two large reservoirs of
water at either end of it.
XVII Causes of mortality.—There have been five deaths in hospital, two from general
debility, one from remittent fever, one from ague, and one from acute bronchitis, the disease