32
5. The schemes of medical inspection of school children as obtaining in
the various provinces are under the control of Public Health Department
except in Assam, Baluchistan and Coorg, where they are under the Medical
Department while in Bengal the responsibility rests with the Director of
Public Instruction who functions through the Physical Director in this
behalf.
6. The medical inspection of school children is one of those branches of
medical activity where the Medical and Public Health Departments can
and often do usefully co-ordinate.
7. Apart from the United Provinces, Punjab, Bihar, Orissa and North-
- West Frontier Province, medical inspection of schools is not an established
success, partly due to lack of co-operation on the part of the teachers and
the parents, for while defects in children are detected by the school medi-
cal inspectors, they are not properly followed up. But the desirability of
the extension of the existing system is universally acknowledged. Primary
classes, as also schools in rural areas, should be brought under the scheme
where they are still outside its scope. A system for the examination of
girls schools should also be established and Lady Medical Officers employed
for the purpose, for so far Bihar and Delhi are the only provinces where
there is a Lady School Medical Officer. There is a suggestion from the
Punjab that there should be a separate Medical Inspector of Schools for
every district and that children should be examined at least twice a year.
Bihar suggests provision of funds for free distribution of spectacles and cer--
tain medicines to the poor students. There is a suggestion from the same
province that arrangements should be made for the occasional visits of
Dentists and Eye Specialists, and also, where possible, for a cheap but
nutritious midday meal for school children as this will considerably reduce
the cases of malnutrition. Teachers should take more interest in the health
and physique of children in their care. Assam recommends that a quarterly
School Medical Record card should be maintained for each student.
8. It is important that the results of these experiments should be re-
viewed in each province periodically and the schemes extended by employ-
ment of additional whole or part-time medical inspectors, where necessary,
who should receive special training in the work. The establishment of
school clinics should be encouraged as far as possible as this is an import-
ant factor on which the success of the plan depends to a great extent.
14. EFFECTS OF EARTHQUAKES IN BIHAR AND BALUCHISTAN
AND PROGRESS THEREAFTER.
A devastating earthquake occurred in Bihar in 1934 and was responsible
for the complete demolition of numerous buildings, and for the tremendous
l o s s o f l i f e . A m o n g t h e h o s p i t a l b u i l d i n g s m o s t a f f e c t e d b y t h e e a r t h q u a k e
were the Bettiah Raj Hospital, the Purnea District Hospital, the Motihari
District Hospital, the Darbhanga District Hospital, the Sitamarhi and
Madhubani Sub-divisional Hospitals. These institutions required complete
reconstruction. At Bettiah a new hospital building has been put up at a
cost of Rs. 6 lakhs. Every effort has been made to make it one of the best
designed hospitals of India. The plans and estimates for the re-building of
the Purnea and Motihari District Hospitals were ready in 1937, though