( 3 )
With reference to the above table it is worthy of remark that out of
the 593 capital operations performed during the year under review, 535
are reported to have been successful.
Hospitals conspicuous for
number of operations.
12. The district which stands fairly first on the list for the number of
important operations is Fyzabad, and they continue in gradation as follows:
Lucknow, Bara Banki, Hardoi, Unao, Rae Bareli, Gonda, Sultanpur,
Partabgarh, Bahraich, Kheri, and last Sitapur.
Ophthalmic Surgery.
13. In a province where we have so many expert and excellent Sur-
geons, it is remarkable how the subject of Ophthalmic Surgery has been
permitted to lie dormant. During my late tour of inspection, I made it
my duty to bring this matter prominently to the notice of all Civil Sur-
geons, and removed any obstacle there might be in cultivating this branch
of surgery by condemning all old and obsolete instruments, and ordering
each Sadr Dispensary to be funished with one of Macnamara's improved
cases.
Officers and subordinates
in charge of Dispensaries.
14. Of the three classes of Medical Officers in charge of Hospitals
and Dispensaries in Oudh, viz., European Medical Officers of the Military
and Uncovenanted Service ; secondly, Assistant Surgeons, all of whom are
Bengalies ; and thirdly, Hospital Assistants, it gives me great pleasure to
be able to state that I have in no instance had to bring the name of any
of the first or second seriously to the notice of superior authority for in-
different conduct or want of attention to their duties.
As regards the third, or Hospital Assistant class, I regret to say
several of them have not proved themselves qualified to hold independent
charges; but this question has formed the subject of special notice.
Native medical pupils.
15. The following extract from my letter, No. 717/S.G., dated 28th De-
cember 1875, to the address of the Surgeon General Her Majesty's Indian
Forces, expresses my opinion regarding the practice of entertaining and
educating a class of lads, called Native Medical pupils, and which I have
had no reason to modify :—
Extract.
"It may not be out of place here for me to say, after closely watch-
ing the experiment of attaching Native Medical pupils to Civil and Regi-
mental Hospitals with a view to their learning the rudiments of their
profession before sending them to the several Medical Schools, that I have
no hesitation in giving it as my opinion, that in spite of the greatest care
and supervision, the system has, as a rule, broken down, and I feel certain
the results would be much more satisfactory and economical if lads from
the zil'a schools in each district, with a fair knowledge of English and
general information, were selected as a reward by the Director of Public
Instruction of each province to fill the vacancies at the several Medical
Colleges, where they would commence at once a systematic course of
Medical studies, instead of the present desultory method of picking up
professional information as it may or may not be taught them by the
Surgeons or their subordinates of the Civil and Military Hospitals and
Dispensaries. It is but fair, however, to state that there are Medical
Officers who possess the power and fancy for teaching and have brought
these lads forward in a remarkable manner ; but this is the exception.