Health in India

Abstract

UNDER the title, “A Modern Miracle,” The Pioneer Mail of September 12 gives some striking figures of the improvement of health among the European troops in India—these figures being taken from the Army Medical Report for last year. With a strength of more than 71,000 British troops in India, there were positively only 328 deaths during the year, equal to 4.62 per 1000. This is really a remarkable achievement; and the smallness of the death-rate is not due in any way to an increase in the invaliding to England—as shown by the fact that the invaliding also fell markedly during the year to 6-68 per 1000, compared with 23 per 1000 in 1892. These are by far the lowest rates on record, and are comparable with the great decrease in the death-rate and the invaliding among non-native officials in West Africa, as disclosed by recent Colonial Office Reports.