3
As noticed last year, infant and maternal welfare centres have been
doing good work for some time in Calcutta and Dacca A scheme was
inaugurated during the year for the training of indigenous village dais, and
the Minister is glad to learn that several district boards have arranged to
start training centres for this purpose. The Asansol Mines Board of Health
have set a good example by employing a small number of trained mid wives
with considerable success, and it is reported that an increasing number
of trained mid wives have settled down to private practice within the
mining area.
The Minister for Local Self-Government hopes that the widespread
interest which has recently been aroused in the subject of maternity and
child-welfare throughout the province as the result of the National Baby
Week Exhibition held under the initiative of Her Excellency the Countess of
Lytton will lead to a systematic organization being formed in every district for
the training of dais, for the education of mothers, and for the formation of
baby clinics and maternity welfare centres.
4. Child mortality.—Referring to the older children the Director of
Public Health has drawn attention to the fact that over 25 per cent. of the
total mortality of the province was made up of child deaths as distinguished
from infant deaths, and that the aggregate loss of life among children between
the ages of one and 15 years is much greater than that of infants.
It is evident that a serious loss is being occasioned to the community by
the deaths of so many young children, and the Minister for Local Self-
Government is convinced that vigorous efforts must be made to reduce
this evil.
In this connection the Minister lays great stress on the value of school
hygiene work and is glad to note that work in connection with school
hygiene was continued throughout the year and that a systematic inspection
of schools and school children is now proceeding in a number of municipali-
ties under the supervision of an Assistant Director of Public Health and a
small staff of assistants specially deputed for the purpose. The Director of
Public Health reports that of the total number of boys examined no less
than 55 per cent. showed physical defects. The Minister hopes that increas-
ing attention will be paid to the health of the school-going population on
whom the future prosperity of the province so largely depends.
5. Registration of Births and Deaths.—The Director of Public
Health has again drawn attention to the continued neglect by municipal
authorities in administrating the law in regard to birth and death registra-
tion. In many towns the machinery of registration is still very defective,
and incredibly low figures continue to be reported. In 1922, 71 towns out of
117 returned birth-rates below 20 per mille, while in ton towns the rate was
lower than 10 per mille. Dinajpur and Suri reported figures as low as 4.9
and 5.5 per mille, respectively.
In the opinion of the Director of Public Health even in the best of years
the healthiest town in Bengal has a death-rate not much below 30 per mille.
In 1922, however, 78 towns reported death-rates below 20 per mille, while
in 12 towns the recorded death-rate was even lower than 10 per mille, Suri
and Garulia returning the absurdly low figures of 4.5 and 4.7 per mille
respectively.
The importance of the maintenance of an accurate record of vital statis-
tics for the purposes of public health administration was emphasized in last
year's resolution, and the Minister for Local Self-Government once more
desires to draw the attention of municipal authorities to the urgent need for
an improvement in this direction.
The continued neglect of birth registration in towns is an obstacle to
infant and maternal welfare work and reveals the urgent necessity for the
appointment of responsible officers as registrars of births and deaths in
municipal areas.
6. Cholera.—The mortality from cholera was 51,712 in 1922 as com-
pared with 80,547 in 1921, giving a death-rate of 1.1 against 1.7 per mille of
the population. It is satisfactory to note that the prevalence of the disease
is on the decline, and the Minister is glad to learn that the local bodies and