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inevitably restrict the amount of treatment he is able to give. The dis-
pensary doctor cannot be used as a sanitary inspector, though there are
certain public health duties which he can easily undertake, for instance
early detection and report of epidemic diseases, noting the relative
incidence of the various communicable diseases, detection of villages in
which vaccination is badly needed, reporting to the District Health Officer
gross insanitary defects and cases of malnutrition among his patients
and their family and propaganda for the improvement of health. The
aim, on the whole, should be co-operation directed towards the greatest
good of the people rather than rigid separation into compartments, since
all efforts are directed towards the same objective of better health and
less sickness.

    8. The organisation of an efficient Rural Nursing Service is as impor-
tant and necessary as the provision of doctors, and though the number of
trained women available is still very inadequate, the profession is, if
slowly, becoming more popular among educated Indians. In the United
Provinces qualified midwives and nurses agreeable to settle down in rural
areas are paid a subsidy of Rs. 100 per annum. In the Bombay Presidency
the Government have sanctioned, as a part of the rural medical relief
programme, a scheme providing for an increase in the number of qualified
nurses and midwives attached to local board dispensaries. The Madras
Government pay a subsidy of Rs. 300-400 p. a. to midwives working
in rural areas. In the Delhi Province there are five maternity and child
welfare centres in rural areas each in charge of a midwife or a nurse.

    9. The various schemes for providing additional rural medical relief
have been briefly narrated in the following paragraphs.

    10. Madras.—In Madras Presidency additional rural medical relief
is afforded through subsidised medical practitioners. All persons or mem-
bers of families whose monthly income does not exceed Rs. 30 are entitled
to free treatment and free supply of medicine at the dispensary. In other
cases the medical practitioner is entitled to charge reasonable fees.

    The District Boards can also utilise the services of medical practitioners.
in charge of subsidised rural dispensaries for the furtherance of public
health work such as inoculation, verification of vaccination, births and
deaths, the control of epidemic diseases, etc., on payment of an honora-
rium of Rs. 15 per mensem from the District Board funds, such work being
done under the guidance of District Health Officers.

    Besides medical graduates and licentiates, candidates who have
acquired the diploma in medicine of the Government Indian Medical
School, Madras, are also eligible for appointment to subsidised rural
dispensaries. When Licentiates in Indian Medicine are posted to rural
dispensaries they become automatically converted into Ayurvedic, Siddha
or Unani dispensaries.