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non-Christian and a further disadvantage lay in the fact that the School
did not prepare for a University degree. New ideas were in the air,
girls were entering Schools in larger numbers and wished to take up the
study of medicine. There was talk of a Women's Medical Service for
India, it must number Indian women among its members. Very few
Indian girls went abroad for training and it was absurd to expect that they
should. Therefore there were strong reasons for founding a College where
women could study apart from men, be taught by their own sex and yet
be prepared for University degrees. The Lady Hardinge Medical College,
New Delhi, was accordingly established in 1916.
6. Of late years the Medical Colleges at Lahore and Lucknow have
admitted women students. In the King Edward Medical College, Lahore,
ten women are now taken annually in the 1st Year Medical class. King
George's Medical College, Lucknow, has begun definitely to encourage
women students. The number of women studying at the Grant Medical
College, Bombay, and the Medical College, Madras, is 91 and 89
respectively. In Calcutta the number is smaller. It would seem as if the
facilities for higher medical education for women were now sufficient for
the number of suitable candidates applying and the subsequent opportu
-nities for work. This statement may, indeed, meet with an indignant pro
-test from would-be students (and their parents) who have been refused
admission to a Medical College. Neither the parent nor the candidate,
however, is the best judge of what constitutes "suitability" and there is
no doubt that many girls seek to embark on a medical career with motives
other than the pursuit of medical science or the desire to relieve suffering.
It has also to be remembered that there is a sharp contrast between the
need of the country for medical aid and its ability to employ medical women.
If too many women qualify in medicine, some are certain to swell the ranks
of the unemployed, a very undesirable state of affairs, especially when sister
professions such as nursing and health visiting are crying out
for candidates.
7. With regard to the Sub-Assistant class of medical practitioners,
small numbers are at present studying in all the mixed Schools, while
the numbers in the B. J. Medical School, Poona, the Robertson Medical
School, Nagpur and the Medical School, Amritsar, are moderately large.
The greatest number of women students of the S. A. S. Class however
are found in the four schools which teach, and are staffed by, women only.
i.e. , Agra, Ludhiana, Madras and Vellore. Here again the position is
the same as noted above in connection with College education, there is a
distinct danger that unemployment will follow the training of too many
students.
5. MEDICAL COUNCIL OF INDIA.
The Medical Council of India was constituted under the Indian Medical
Council Act, (No. XXVII of 1933) in order, as stated in the preamble,
to establish a uniform minimum standard of higher qualifications in
medicine for all provinces. The Council has not been entrusted with the mainte-
nance of a register, registration remaining with the provincial medical
councils, nor have any disciplinary powers over medical practitioners been
conferred upon it.