MEDICAL AND PUBLIC HEALTH SERVICES

MODERN TRENDS

In what follows is described the position of the district in respect of medical relief as given in the old Wardha District Gazetteer published in 1906.

" The District has altogether 10 dispensaries, 3 at Wardha including Police and Mission hospitals, 2 at Hinganghat including one maintained by the mills, 2 at Pulgaon including one maintained by the mills, and one each at Sindi, Deoli and Arvi. The Wardha main dispensary contains accommodation for 15 in-patients, that of Arvi for 12 and that of Hingan-ghat for 10. The hospital of the Scotch Free Church at Wardha contains 44 beds and the members of the Mission also give medical advice and relief once a week at Sindi and Paunar. In 1904, 448 in-door patients and 1,02,443 out-door patients were treated at the public dispensaries. The daily average number of in-door and out-door patients during the years 1901-04 was 29 and 324, respectively. The average income of the public dispensaries during the decade ending 1901 was Rs. 7,400 and in 1904, Rs. 15,400. The income is derived from Provincial and local funds and from public subscriptions. Each dispensary has a midwife attached to it. A Leper Asylum is maintained at Wardha by the Scotch Free Church Mission. It contained 20 lepers in 1904, this number being considerably smaller than during the three preceding years. The annual expenditure on the asylum is about Rs. 2,000, which sum is almost wholly provided from the funds of the Mission. Admission is entirely voluntary and the inmates are prohibited from begging in the neighbourhood. The District has two veterinary dispensaries, one at Wardha and one recently opened at Arvi. These are maintained by the District Council. Vaccination is compulsory only in the municipal towns of Wardha, Deoli, Arvi and Hinganghat, but it is carried on over the whole District in the open season. The staff consists of a native Superintendent and 10 vaccinators and the cost of the operations in 1904 was Rs. 1,500. The number of successful primary vaccinations has risen from 12,000 or 29 per mille of the population in 1890-91 to 13,000 or 33 per mille in 1900-01, and 18,000 or 46 per mille in 1903-04. This is the highest figure attained. The number of revaccinations is still small, and the adult population cannot therefore be said to be protected from small-pox, the ravages of which disease have, however, considerably decreased in recent year." [Central Provinces District Gazetteers, Wardha District. 1906, pp. 222-223.]

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