Memorandum by the Army Sanitary Commission and correspondence regarding the prevalence of venereal disease among the British troops in India.

  • Great Britain. War Office. Army Sanitary Commission.
Date:
1897
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Memorandum by the Army Sanitary Commission and correspondence regarding the prevalence of venereal disease among the British troops in India. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by Royal College of Physicians, London. The original may be consulted at Royal College of Physicians, London.

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    9. Whether or not the absence of any appreciable increase of this disease amongst our Native troops affords sufficient grounds for inferring the absence of an increase of disease amongst the loose women of the country generally, it seems to be evident, judging from the facts before us, either that the women of the class with which the British soldier consorts have, as is probable, increased in number, or that, owing to the unrestricted practice of prostitution of late years, and the absence of effectual measures to ensure their medical treatment or expulsion from cantonments, they have become more generally diseased. Probably both of these inferences may be correct, and both, it appears to us, point to the need for the adoption of some measures calculated to restrict the practice of prostitution by women in this condition. 10. We desire in addition to re-state herein the opinion expressed in the 11th paragraph of our memorandum, dated the 25th of January 1894:—“(11) But we ,c entirely concur in the suggestion contained in the Military Despatch from the “ Government of India that the authorities should have power, as in the case of other “ infectious diseases, to expel from cantonments women ‘ when they are known to be “ ‘ diseased, and refuse to submit to treatment in hospital.’ We would also strongly “ advocate that the power of commanding officers should be as much enlarged as “ practicable in the direction of diminishing the temptations to young soldiers, by “ preventing women, for example, from coming about the lines after dusk, and also “ in putting places out of bounds where soldiers are believed to have contracted “ disease.” 11. We consider that the same but stronger reasons exist for applying similar methods of treatment in the case of this contagious disease to those that are adopted in other contagious diseases with the view of preventing or limiting their spread. The measures that are necessary to prevent women in a diseased condition from spreading contagion apply also to soldiers under the same circumstances. Officers commanding stations, regiments, or corps, on the recommendation of medical officers, should, in the opinion of the Army Sanitary Commission, be vested with discretionary powers to order the medical inspection of soldiers for the detection of venereal disease whenever deemed advisable, or where the disease is believed to be concealed or is unusually prevalent. 12. The Commission recommend that a soldier who has suffered from venereal disease should be subjected to inspection for a year after the date of his having contracted it. 13. As regards the examination and treatment of women for venereal disease, it is suggested whether female medical assistants could not be employed for the purpose under the supervision of the medical officer, or, if the number of these in India be insufficient, whether some native women might not be trained to do this. This would mitigate the objections which might be urged against the examination of women for these diseases by the opposite sex. March 9th, 1897. n 961)4(1.