Medical and sanitary report for the native army of Bombay, for the year 1877. : Framed on the monthly and annual returns, on the reports of regimental medical officers, and on the inspection reports of deputy surgeons general.

  • Bombay (Presidency). Military Department.
Date:
1878
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Medical and sanitary report for the native army of Bombay, for the year 1877. : Framed on the monthly and annual returns, on the reports of regimental medical officers, and on the inspection reports of deputy surgeons general. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine Library & Archives Service. The original may be consulted at London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine Library & Archives Service.

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    urine, great difficulty is experienced in keeping the latrines clean. The earthen pots intended to hold urine repeatedly tumble down, and tend to keep the floor always damp, which is most objectionable. The hospital has a large and spacious compound. There is no proper direct road between the lines and hospital. 8. Daring the first three months of the year the general health of the men was report- „ . . , . . . . ed good, and ague was less prevalent than in the correspond- (jeneral health and physique. D ,,,, • ■, , e, n , n 1 , 1 J 1 mg months ol the previous year ; but atterwards, as the weather became hotter, sickness increased, and the health of the regiment was only pronounced fair. The men were employed on work in the lines—making gutters, repairing roads, building a workshop, finishing the gymnasium, digging up ground for a plantation, &c., in addition to regimental duties ; however, they had 3J nights in bed per week, so it cannot be said that they were overworked. Influence of climate or local 9- The dry climate of Poona seems to have agreed with circumstances on health. the men after the relaxing climate of Surat. 10. The admissions from ague (349) were 38 more than in the previous year. The „ , disease was most prevalent during the months of April, May, Details of treated. T , , j T, , -j i c j I June, October, and December, and was, as a rule, oi a moderate type, and yielded to ordinary treatment. In very mild cases cinchonidine and the cinchona mixed alkaloid were used, but for the severe cases it was found necessary to give quinine. The admissions from respiratory diseases were forty-two—two from pneumonia, ten from asthma, and the remainder for bronchitis; out of these twelve cases were of a bad type, viz. six bronchitis, two pneumonia, and four asthma, and one chronic pneumonic phthisis. Of diseases of the stomach and bowels sixty-nine cases were admitted, out of which thirty were cases of dysentery, nineteen of diarrhoea, and the remaining eighteen of colic, &c. Thirty-eight cases were admitted with venereal diseases, which includes three re-admissions ; from what I can gather, it would appear that in the great majority of cases the disease was contracted in the Poona city or cantonment, and not in the vicinity of the lines. Out of the total treated two were cases of gonorrhoea, and thirty-six were syphilis, of which nine were of a bad type, and were in hospital for a long time. The remaining two hundred and forty-five cases from all other causes do not require any special remark. 11. Out of 780 admissions four deaths occurred during the year, from the following causesbronchitis with ague, splenitis with ague, remittent fever, and malignant cholera. Mortality and its causes. 12. There was no epidemic during the year, with the exception of cholei’a, which prevailed in the city and cantonment for a short period, and ■pu s. one cage 0CC1irred in the 26tli Regiment in the month of Decem- ber, and ended fatally. All requisite precautions were adopted as to isolation, disinfection, &c. 13. Fifty-eight children were vaccinated during the year; all the operations were suc- . cessful. Besides these, 64 recruits were re-vaccinated, of aranation nnu ic \aecmation. w]3£cj1 number 45 were successful. Vaccination was performed in the months of January, February, March, June, and July. Forty-eight men were invalided, for the following causes :—Rheumatic affections 14, syphilis 7, scurvy 3, lung disease 6, chronic hepatitis 1, and old age axxd debility 17. 14. Invaliding and its causes. 15. I suggested that a stone floor be laid down in the bathroom, and a di’ain constructed Requirements and recommend- to cany off the refuse water, and also that one of the three ations. water-pipes in the hospital compound be extended to the bath- room, so that the sick could bathe without exposure to heat or cold; this suggestion, I am glad to say, has been sanctioned, and is being carried out. The remaining requirements are as follows:— A double-tiled roof and stone floor for the hospital ] alteration and improvements of the hospital latrines; road between the lines and hospital, I am happy to state that 2nd class hospital assistant Gunesh Suckharam has performed his duties to my satisfaction, and native medical pupil Hanmant Chowan is well conducted, and is doing his best to improve himself.