NationalLibraryOfScotland/medical-history-of-british-india huggingface dataset:
262
service at the docks in Bombay, Karachi, Calcutta and Rangoon, by loading
and unloading the sick to and from hospital ships and trains. Some mem
-
bers also rendered devoted service during the terrible influenza epidemic of
1918.
3. From 1911, since when proper records have been kept, the Indian
Council has trained over 500,000 persons in the subjects mentioned above,
the majority of whom have qualified in First Aid. In addition to students,
who have been trained in large numbers, classes are organised among mili
-
tary and police forces, railway personnel, prison warders. miners and factory
workers.
4. A large number of the railway staff in India has already been trained
in First Aid and every year thousands of cases of injuries in the railway
workshops are dealt with by those who hold First Aid certificates of the
Association. The police force receives regular instruction in First Aid while
under training at the Police Schools. Courses of instruction in Junior First
Aid and Mackenzie School Course in First Aid, Hygiene and Sanitation are
held in the boys' and girls' schools all over the country and numerous certi
-
ficates of proficiency have already been issued to those who have qualified
for them. Valuable work is also being done in the Indian States, notably
in Gwalior, Baroda and Mysore. The Criminal Tribes Settlements in the
Punjab have also taken keen interest in First Aid training, and a large
number of these people now possess First Aid and Home Nursing certifi
-
cates.
Organisation and finance. —The Association has Centres in Provinces,
Indian States and on Railways, and under these main Centres there are
about 250 Local Centres. In the provinces the Governor is usually the
President of the Centre, with a Minister or any other high official of the
medical services as Chairman of the Committee. In Districts usually
the Collector is the Chairman, and often the Civil Surgeon or District
Officer of Health holds office as Honorary Secretary. In Indian States
the Ruler is either Patron or President, and one of his Ministers acts as
Chairman, with the Principal Medical Officer as Secretary.
2. There are various grades of subscribing membership of the Associa
-
tion, but unfortunately the membership in India is regrettably small, being
only 980 in 1936. The headquarters receive an annual grant of Rs. 5,000
from the Government of India but, apart from this, the Association is
self-supporting. Its main sources of income at the headquarters are fees
from certificates, sale of stores, interest on investments (about Rs. 7,500
annually) and a percentage on subscriptions received by Branches. Provin
-
cial, State and Railway Branches depend for their financial support on local
donations and subscriptions, helped out . in some cases by grants from the
Local Governments or from the Red Cross Branches concerned.
Text-books, etc. —The Association has translated and published its
text-books in all the principal Indian vernaculars a task of no small
magnitude. Each year about 30,000 books are sold from the St. John
263
Ambulance Stores Depot, New Delhi, which also stocks First Aid outfits,
physiological diagrams, stretchers, splints, and bandages, etc.
2. Recently text-books on air raid precautions and anti-gas measures
have been added to the stock as also demonstration respirators. It is pro
-
posed to start classes in air raid precautions.
First aid Road Stations. —In Calcutta the Bengal Centre has
organised two First Aid Road Stations, which render First Aid on the
spot to road casualties and treat a large number annually. Gwalior State
Centre has also established similar Road First Aid Stations, and in the
Punjab, they are being set up gradually along the Grand Trunk
Road. A comprehensive scheme for First Aid on Highways has been
drawn up by the Indian Red Cross Society, in which the Association is
co-operating closely. In the Central Provinces fifty such First Aid Posts
are already functioning and 339 persons received treatment at these Posts
during 1936.
Ambulance Competitions. —All-India Ambulance Competitions are
organised by the Indian Council every alternate year at the headquarters
of Provincial Centres by rotation. These Competitions increase efficiency
and put to test the training received. There are 14 handsome trophies for
competition, and as many as 60 or 70 teams from all over India usually
take part in it. In addition, Provincial, State and Railway Centres usually
organise their own local competitions, for which a number of trophies have
also been presented.
St. John Ambulance Brigade Overseas. —The St. John Ambulance
Brigade Overseas is a uniformed, disciplined body of men and women,
all of whom are holders of First Aid or Home Nursing certificates. They
meet together regularly for practice, are inspected annually and undertake
to turn out for public duty whenever required.
2. At the end of 1936, the Brigade in India consisted of 77 Ambulance
Divisions, 15 Nursing Divisions and 23 Cadet Divisions (boys and girls),
with a total membership of over 3,000. These Divisions render First Aid
at sports meetings, pilgrimages, fairs and so on, and some of them possess
their own Motor Ambulances to transport the sick and injured to hospital,
a service which is much appreciated. At times of special emergencies they
turn out promptly and remain on duty so long as they are required. Some
of the recent occasions when Brigade members rendered valuable service
are the Bihar earthquake of 1934, when Calcutta members established a
camp at Monghyr, the Quetta earthquake of 1935, when Lahore members
living in railway trucks at the Quetta Station gave valuable help to the
stricken hospitals, the Bombay Riots in successive years, where the Parsi
Ambulance Division earned the warm appreciation of the Government of
Bombay, and in the recent Bihta railway disaster, when members of the
East Indian Railway Nursing Division at Dinapore gave prompt assistance.
3. The Brigade in India is commanded by Sir Ernest Burdon, K.C.I.E.,
C.S.I., I.C.S., Chief Commissioner for the Empire of India. Under him
there are 8 Districts, of which Bengal, numerically the most important, is
commanded by a Commissioner, and the others by Assistant Commissioners.
264
The headquarters of the Districts now
established are Lahore, Calcutta
-
Bombay, Madras, Bangalore, Lucknow and Nagpur besides one on the East
Indian Railway. Eventually it is hoped to have a District in every Province
of British India and in some of the important Indian States.
Voluntary Aid Detachments. —A scheme for Voluntary Aid De
-
tachments to supplement in time of war the military medical
services in India has been sanctioned by the Defence Department,
Government of India, and is being put into practice. So far
only women's Detachments have been formed, to provide recruits for the
nursing services. These are enrolled from among members of Nursing
Divisions of the St. John Ambulance Brigade Overseas, who are already in
possession of First Aid and Home Nursing certificates and have had some
experience. The Voluntary Aid Detachment members agree to do a short
period of training in a military hospital, and they enrol either for Full Ser
-
vice, to be sent anywhere with the Army in India, or for Local Service, to
be attached to the nearest Military Hospital. This scheme provides a
splendid opportunity for service in time of war or any other national emer
-
gency.
3. COUNTESS OF DUFFERIN'S FUND.
[THE NATIONAL ASSOCIATION FOR SUPPLYING MEDICAL AID BY WOMEN TO THE
WOMEN OF INDIA (COUNTESS OF DUFFERIN ' S FUND INCLUDING THE
WOMEN ' S MEDICAL SERVICE.)]
The Countess of Dufferin's Fund was founded at the instance of Queen
Victoria who personally commended the matter to the care of the Countess
of Dufferin before the latter left England for India. As a result of the
Countess of Dufferin's efforts, the National Association for Supplying Medi
-
cal Aid by Women to the Women of India was established in 1885 and has
since continued to work for the object for which it was founded namely;
medical education to women, medical relief and the supplying of nurses and
midwives for hospitals and private work. The Queen Empress became the
Patron of the National Association, the Governors and Lieutenant-Gover
-
nors of the various provinces were Vice-Patrons and other persons were
enrolled as Life Councillors, Life Members or Ordinary Members, according
to the amount of their donations. The Viceroy's wife was the President
of the Association.
2. The plan followed in the working of the Fund was that of a Central
Committee at Delhi to which was entrusted the general management of
the affairs of the Fund, while in the various provinces local Committees
were formed which were allowed to manage their own affairs and funds,
but which were affiliated to the Central Council. Each local Committe
e
was responsible for the establishment of a hospital for women or for sup
-
porting a female medical Assistant or Midwife according to the funds at
their disposal. Branches were formed in Assam, Baluchistan, Bengal,
Berar, Bihar and Orissa, Bombay, Burma, the Central Provinces, Madras,
Punjab, United Provinces, North-West Frontier Province and later in
Orissa and in Sind.
Contributed by Dr. C. L. Houlton, C.M.O., W.M.S.
265
3.
Medical tution was carried out by the Fund granting scholarships to
young women willing to take up the profession of medicine, and by training
nurses and midwives.
4.
Medical Relief included the establishment under the superintendence
of medical women of hospitals and dispensaries for the treatment of women
and children; the opening of wards for women and children under female
superintendence in existing hospitals and dispensaries and the provision of
female medical officers for existing wards for women, as also the supply of
trained nurses and midwives for women and children in hospital an
d
private houses.
5.
Apart from the above activities, the great achievement of the Asso
-
ciation was the manner in which it opened the eyes of the Indian public
to the sufferings of their womenkind and showed them how they coul
d
organise and found a great national movement destined in time to bring
relief to millions, and to draw into its working cadre hundreds of young
Indian women who have given themselves freely to the service of their
country as doctors, nurses and midwives.
6.
Of the different provincial branches perhaps the one which showed it
-
self most active was that of the United Provinces. It built and equipped
hospitals at Agra, Allahabad, Lucknow, Cawnpore and Benares, which
were all placed under the charge of medical women of the first class. This
Branch also employed an increasing number of women assistant and
s u b -
assistant surgeons to take charge of smaller hospitals and of women's wards
in Civil Hospitals. These were formed into a regular service, according to
their grades and had definite rules for pay, promotion and leave. In addi
-
tion, the United Provinces Branch organised the Women's Medical School,
Agra, in which it was generously assisted by the Central Committee.
7.
The main activity of the Bengal Branch was the building and partial
endowing of a Women's Hospital at Calcutta.
8.
The Bombay Provincial Committee concentrated itself on organising
and supporting a Nursing School at the Cama Hospital, Bombay. Later
hospitals were opened at Shikarpur, Hyderabad, Karachi and Surat.
9.
The Central Provinces Branch opened hospitals at Jubbulpore an
d
Nagpur; the Berar branch at Amraoti, Akola, Shegaon and Yeotmal.
10. In Baluchistan hospitals were opened at Sibi, Quetta and Fort
Sandeman; in Bihar at Gaya and Bhagalpur. The Dufferin Hospitals
were usually organised by Local Committees which had collected funds
locally and were assisted by grants from Provincial or Municipal Commit
tees. But the funds were generally too small to allow of sufficient staff or
proper equipment and consequently most of the Dufferin Hospitals went
through many vicissitudes and financial crises. The formation of the
Women's Medical Service relieved the Local Committees of the task of
Providing salaries for their medical women and the money thus released
was used in the improvement of the general staff and equipment of the
hospitals.
267
Director of the Maternity and Child Welfare Section of the All-India Insti
-
tute of Hygiene, Calcutta, but also by financing the whole of the Maternity
and Child Welfare Section of the Institute including the Model. Welfare
C entre.
18. The money allotted to the Dufferin Fund from the Silver Jubilee
Fund enabled the Committee to give substantial non-recurring grants for
the improvement of the women's hospitals at Karachi, Vizagapatam,
Allahabad, Shillong and Agra. Grants for much needed developments were
also promised from this Fund to the Hospitals at Calcutta, Benares,
Cawnpore, Akola, Amraoti, Nagpur and Jubbulpore. Plans were prepared
for rebuilding on modern lines the Dufferin Hospital at Quetta which had
been completely destroyed by the earthquake in 1935. A new hospital for
women was opened at Shillong and was placed under the management of
the Assam Branch of the Dufferin Fund. The Central Committee sanction
-
ed the appointment of a W. M. S. officer as Medical Superintendent of this
hospital and gave generous grants towards its equipment and for building
House Surgeon's quarters.
19. The plans for
a new and up-to-date Dufferin Hospital at Calcutta
to replace the. old and obsolete one were completed. It is hoped that this
new hospital when built, will form a
Centre for a Post-graduate school for
medical women and for Research Work.
20. During 1936 the Central Committee of the Dufferin Fund gave much
consideration to schemes for improving the nursing service in Dufferin hos
-
pitals. It was fully realised that improvement can only be brought about
by raising the status of the nursing profession by attracting to it a better
class of girl and by offering her better conditions under which to live and
train. With this object in view the Committee sanctioned grants to certain
hospitals from the Silver Jubilee money to help them to build and furnish
n e w q u a r t e r s f o r n u r s e s , t o i m p r o v ethe teaching equipment in training
schools for, nurses, to employ better qualified sisters in training schools and
to enable nurses trained in India to take administrative courses in certain
large training schools for nurses.
Only the fringe of this important problem has been touched so far,
b u t
it is hoped these small beginnings will develop into a big movement which
will lead eventually to a nursing service in our Dufferin hospitals compar
-
able to those in advanced European countries.
21. There is great need in every direction for expansion in the work
of the Association. There is practically no medical aid to women in the
vast rural areas of India and many more hospitals and dispensaries for
women are wanted in the towns and cities. Also the
existing institutions ought to be modernised and brought up to
present day standards both as regards equipment and staffing. There is
enormous scope for the National Association for ministering to the physical
welfare of the women of India, but the Dufferin Fund can do little unless
more financial help is forthcoming either from the Government or from
private philanthropic sources.
268
THE WOMEN'S MEDICAL SERVICE.
The formation of the Women's Medical Service for India was the out
-
come of the following factors :
—
(1) the dissatisfaction of many women doctors at the methods
adopted for recruitment of medical women and at the pay and
the position of medical women in India,
(2) the limited income at the disposal of the Dufferin Fund Counci
l
which did not allow of larger emoluments being paid to doctors
in their pay, and
(3) the knowledge that the needs of the women of India were not
being sufficiently met by the efforts of the Dufferin Fund.
2. As a result of representation made to the Secretary of State on th
e
subject in 1911, the Government of India granted in 1913 a subsidy of
Rs. 1,50,000 to be administered by the Dufferin Fund Committee for the
purpose of establishing a Women's Medical Service in India. The Service
was started in 1914 with a cadre of 25 members admitted by selection and
recruitment in India and in the United Kingdom. In later years the
Government of India twice raised their subsidy and by 1923 the annual
grant had become Rs. 3,70,000. This increased grant enabled the Dufferin
Committee to raise the cadre to 44. The rate of pay of members of the
Women's Medical Service was finally fixed at Rs. 450—50/3—850 with
10 per cent contribution to a Provident Fund. Free furnished quarters or
house rent allowance in lieu thereof were also sanctioned and private
practice was allowed. An overseas allowance and passages to the number
of 4 during a member's period of service, were granted to officers of non-
Asiatic domicile.
3. In 1917 the Dufferin Fund Committee appointed a medical woman
as Secretary and Chief Medical Officer, Women's Medical Service. This
Officer was given the right of inspection of all hospitals officered by members
of the Service—thus ensuring that the hospitals were kept in efficient
working order and that good work was being done.
4. In 1925 a Women's Medical Service Training Reserve was organised.
Under this scheme the Council of the Dufferin Fund employed women
medical graduates, recently qualified in India, and appointed them as
assistants in some of the larger hospitals staffed by W. M. S. officers.
After 3 years, selected members of these training reserve officers were sent
to the United Kingdom for further study and later, if found suitable and if
vacancies occurred, they were appointed to the Women's Medical Service.
5. In 1936 the Cadre consisted of 45 members. A relatively large num
-
ber of these officers were employed in educational work. The services
of 9 officers were given to the Lady Hardinge Medical College, Delhi, four
to the Women's Medical School, Agra, one to the Medical School, Madras,.
and one to the All-India Institute of Hygiene, Calcutta.
6. Three officers were employed in administrative appointments—one
in the Central office as Secretary of the Countess of Dufferin's Fund and
Chief Medical Officer, Women's Medical Service, one in the United Pro
-
vinces as Secretary to the United Provinces Branch of the Countess of
Dufferin's Fund and Senior Medical Officer, United Provinces and one
269
in the Indian Red Cross office as Director of the Maternity and Child
Welfare Bureau. The remainder of the members were employed as
executive officers in charge of hospitals in various parts of India.
7. Indianisation of the Service is being carried out. At the end of
1936 the Cadre consisted of :—
Asiatic officers
26.
Non-Asiatic officers
19.
The money allotted from the Silver Jubilee Fund enable the Committee
to employ one extra Indian W. M. S. officer and 3 temporary medical
officers.
8. The cadre of the Training Reserve was increased to 14. Two mem
-
bers were deputed to England in the autumn for post-graduate study—one
to work for the Conjoint of the English Colleges and the other for the
Primary F. R. C. S. The two officers who were deputed to the United
Kingdom in 1935 returned to India in 1936, one having obtained the
Diploma in Medical Radiology and Electrology (Cambridge) and the other
the Membership of the College of Physicians (London). Both were given
appointments as temporary medical officers on their return—the former
as Assistant Radiologist in the Lady Hardinge Medical College, Delhi, and
the latter as Senior House Surgeon at the Dufferin Hospital, Calcutta.
9. One member of the Training Reserve was awarded a Fellowship by
the Rockefeller Foundation in 1935 for the study of Public Health Work in
the United States of America and England. On return in 1936 this officer
was given a temporary appointment at the All-India Institute of Hygiene,
Calcutta, to carry out some important research under the Indian Research
Fund Association on "Maternal Mortality in Calcutta". These officers
will be considered for vacancies as they arise in the Senior Service.
4. BRITISH EMPIRE LEPROSY RELIEF ASSOCIATION (INDIAN
COUNCIL)
.
The new light thrown upon the problem of leprosy by the establishment
of the fact that early cases were more readily amenable to treatment,
coupled with the more effective and practical methods of treatment result
-
ing from recent researches of science, brought about a great mobilization
of effort for the eradication of leprosy, and, in 1924, the British Empire
Leprosy Relief Association was founded in London under the august patron
-
age of H. R. H. the Prince of Wales. Leprosy was not a forgotten sub
-
ject, but with the inauguration of the Association the subject came into
greater prominence, and resources for dealing with it were augmented.
2. The Association at once decided to make its campaign against
leprosy Empire-wide and, as a result of this move, the Indian Council of
the Association was inaugurated in January 1925, by the Marquis of Reading,
the then Viceroy and Governor-General of India.
3. The Indian Council was not established a moment too soon. Accord
-
ing to census figures which expert investigations have shown to be far short
of the actual numbers, India. contained by far the largest number of lepers
in the Empire and perhaps in the world. The disease was so wide-spread
Contributed by Sardar Bahadur Balwant Singh Puri, O. B E.
271
instruction to many doctors; and doctors with modern knowledge about
the diagnosis and treatment of the leprosy are not now difficult to find in
any province.
7. An extensive survey of selected areas was started by a special Survey
Party in 1927 to find out the relative incidence of leprosy in different parts
of India, the classes of people among whom it is most rife and the causes.
which underlie the high incidence. This work cost the Association a sum
of Rs. 87,300 and the Party was dissolved at the end of 1931 after it
had collected valuable data on the subject.
8. The work of the provision of treatment of lepers is undertaken by
the 17 Provincial and State Branches of the Association all of which are
doing good work within the limits of their financial resources. A large
number of patients is now seeking treatment at the treatment clinics
numbering over 1,100, and every Branch reports the beneficial results
obtained after a regular and sufficiently long course of treatment. Such
remarks as patients "discharged", "cured", "non-infectious", "symptom
free", "disease arrested", "apparently cured", "decidedly improved", etc.,
are becoming quite common and when it is remembered that thousands of
lepers are now under proper treatment and that one "cured" or "improved"
case brings within the purview of the treatment centres more than a
hundred di sheartened l epers may be consi dered a hopeful si gn i n the
campaign for the eradication of leprosy from India. That the British
Empire Leprosy Relief Association has been able to play a part in hearten
-
ing up a class of people suffering from age-long depression and distress
encourages it to take an optimistic view of the future of the work before it
.
List of Provincial and State Branches of the British Empire Leprosy
Relief Association (Indian Council).
Approximate
number of
leprosy
clinics.
Number of
Leper
Hospitals.
1. Assam . . .
202
8
2. Baluchistan . . .
. . .
. . .
3. Bangalore . . .
1
. . .
4. Bengal . . .
200
5
5. Bihar . . .
63
6
6. Bombay . . .
38
12
7. Burma . . .
12
4
8. Central India . . .
22
1
9. Central Provinces . . .
32
7
10. Hyderabad British Administered Areas
2
1 (Dichpali).
11. Madras . . .
433
9
12. Mysore . . .
6
1
13. North-West Frontier Province . . .
2
. . .
14. Orissa . . .
16
2
15. Punjab . . .
80
6
16. Rajputana . . .
7
. . .
17. United Provinces . . .
3
15
18. Western India States Agency . . .
5
1
Total . . .
1,124
78