close_game
close_game

Building up India’s health: A 1951 essay by health minister Amrit Kaur, from the HT archives

ByAmrit Kaur
Jan 24, 2025 03:11 PM IST

HT's Republic@75 special: There was everything to be done: hospitals built, nutrition tackled, doctors and nurses trained. Kaur writes on matters of concern.

It is a real tragedy for India that very little attention has been paid to the nation’s health in the past. The rural population which constitutes the real India was wholly neglected and even in the cities the facilities afforded to the poor were not such as to inspire confidence in the patient or cater adequately to the general need.

At a Delhi hospital in 1988. ’Even in the cities the facilities afforded to the poor were not such as to inspire confidence in the patient or cater adequately to the general need,’ Amrit Kaur writes. (HT Archives) PREMIUM
At a Delhi hospital in 1988. ’Even in the cities the facilities afforded to the poor were not such as to inspire confidence in the patient or cater adequately to the general need,’ Amrit Kaur writes. (HT Archives)

Independent India has had, therefore, to face a tremendous problem and since Independence, as we all know, has come not only an upheaval of population which no country in the world has ever had to face on such an immense scale but even Nature has dealt very harshly with us. We have got practical projects which we would like to undertake but we are handicapped by financial stringency. Nevertheless, the health of the people cannot be allowed to deteriorate and a rapid advance in the course of three years has been made in the face of great difficulties.

Under the new Constitution the States are autonomous in respect of medical relief and public health. So long, however, as they continued to get financial aid from the Centre it was incumbent on them to get the approval of the Centre for their schemes. Since this financial aid is no longer forthcoming all that the Centre can do is to advise the States and keep in close touch with them in their endeavours to build up the health of the people committed to their charge.

Activities of the states

The Government of West Bengal have launched an ambitious scheme for the improvement of health amenities on the lines recommended by the Bhore Committee and aim at providing a four-bedded hospital in each of the Union Boards of the State.

The Government of Uttar Pradesh are concentrating on the expansion of rural medical relief by opening new dispensaries and encouraging as many medical practitioners as possible to settle in rural centres. Maternity and child welfare is receiving special attention.

The Government of Bihar have set up, as an experimental measure, a Co-operative and Preventive Health Unit in the flood area of Saharsa District with the combined function of rendering medical and health relief through one unified source.

The Government of Bombay have upgraded the two medical schools located in Poona and Ahmedabad and have increased the total number of seats in the six State Medical Colleges.

The Government of Madras have also increased the number of seats in the Andhra and Stanley Medical Colleges. The Government of West Bengal have upgraded two medical schools and are introducing a system of double shift teaching in order to augment the yearly output of doctors.

‘It is estimated that for 2 million sufferers there were in 1947 only 6,000 beds available in the whole country. These have been raised to nearly double during the last three years,’ Kaur writes.
‘It is estimated that for 2 million sufferers there were in 1947 only 6,000 beds available in the whole country. These have been raised to nearly double during the last three years,’ Kaur writes.

The old Licentiates in Medicine are now being given opportunities to qualify themselves as graduates in Medicine in some of the medical colleges. For this purpose the Government of India is maintaining, in collaboration with the Government of West Bengal, the Lake Medical College in order to admit licentiate candidates for the condensed course.

In the field of water-supply and rural sanitation some of the States have achieved substantial progress. Besides Uttar Pradesh and Orissa, the Madras Government have started a five-year scheme costing a sum of 25.6 million for the provision of safe water supply in rural areas. As regards urban areas, the State has launched a 20-year scheme for the provision of a State water-supply and sewerage system in all towns having a population of 10,000 and over.

The Government of Bombay have formulated a scheme for an expenditure, during the next five years, of 18.6 million on a pure water-supply scheme in urban areas.

Recent achievements

Immediately after Independence the Centre had to play a prominent part in dealing with health and medical relief problems for millions of displaced persons. The health organization for the camp at Kurukshetra which catered to a population of 300,000 was effective enough to demonstrate that given adequate means it is possible to reduce greatly the existing morbidity and mortality rates in the country. The experience gained was well worthwhile for our medical personnel who had to improvise and make full use of their ingenuity under difficult circumstances and the results achieved by them were heartening and creditable.

The four big hospitals in Delhi have been expanded and their staff strengthened. The Victoria Zenana Hospital for women has been provincialized. Plans for Government taking over the Lady Hardinge College are under way in order to improve the standards of instruction and expand the Institution. A Tuberculosis Institute for teaching and research work has been started in the Delhi University. The bed strength of Kingsway Hospital in Delhi for TB has been increased by nearly 200.

Two mobile dispensaries operate daily in the village areas and are extremely popular. Publicity vans do likewise and provide an attractive means of imparting health education in the rural areas through talks, leaflets and the cinema. Health films are shown regularly in Delhi to the urban population also.

The Nursing College in Delhi is the first of its kind as an attempt to raise nursing education to the University standard and to attract for nursing career young girls with an adequate social and general educational background. A University Diploma Course in dietetics has been started at the All-India Institute of Hygiene and Public Health, Calcutta, and a special diet kitchen, the first of its kind in India, has been opened at the Calcutta Medical College by the Government of West Bengal.

Realizing the value of the need for high training of public health engineers a post-graduate diploma course has been started at the All-India Institute of Hygiene and Public Health. A separate section has also been created at this Institute for specialized teaching and research in Industrial Health.

Progressive legislation

Legislation has been enacted for the regulation of the professions of Nursing, Dentistry and Pharmacy. Councils for these important limbs of the medical profession have been set up and are actively engaged in efforts to improve the standards of practice in each sphere.

Legislation for the prevention of food adulteration is being sponsored by the Health Ministry and will be brought up for the consideration of Parliament as soon as possible. Tuberculosis has assumed alarming proportions and the facilities in the matter of beds, sanatoria and colonies for sufferers from this disease are totally inadequate. It is estimated that for 2 million sufferers there were in 1947 only 6,000 beds available in the whole country. These have been raised to nearly double during the last three years but the entire inadequacy of means to combat this disease is a matter of grave concern to the Ministry of Health.

A campaign has been launched and has met with success in the shape of BCG inoculation as a preventive measure. BCG vaccine is now being manufactured in India and in this campaign we are indebted to these foreign experts who have helped us...

A Tuberculosis Seals Campaign was begun on October 2 and will continue... It is hoped that a fair amount of money will be raised in this manner so that we may be able to expand the existing facilities for the segregation and treatment of sufferers from TB.

International collaboration

There is no doubt that India has benefited greatly by collaboration with WHO and UNICEF. Four international teams have done and are doing yeoman service in anti-malaria work: one is working for the eradication of venereal disease in Himachal Pradesh with very good results, another is working in a rural area in Delhi for maternity and child welfare work. About 1.5 million dollars worth of powdered milk has been given to India by UNICEF for free distribution to under-nourished mothers and children. This nourishment has been particularly welcomed in our relief camps for displaced persons.

In addition, UNICEF has helped India to establish three tuberculosis centres in Delhi, Patna and Trivandrum which will function as training organizations for personnel for anti-tuberculosis work and will also undertake epidemiological studies into the incidence and spread of the disease. Proposals are under consideration for establishing over a period of five to seven years a dozen more such organizations in different parts of India. The construction of a Penicillin Factory near Poona has also been started and it is hoped that the factory will be able to produce sulpha drugs and paludrine.

The necessary impetus to medical research has been given by the Indian Council of Medical Research which has extended its programme in different branches of medicine and the allied sciences. The foundation of drugs research in India has been laid by the establishment of a special Research Laboratory in Lucknow. Money has also been set aside for research in the indigenous systems of medicine.

Tests to ascertain the efficacy of various preparations of DDT as indoor residual sprays against adult mosquitoes were carried out in the Malaria Institute of India and in the Delhi rural areas. The Cholera Research Committee has been reorganized with reference to its scope of functions and a team is at the moment carrying out active research in Madras with the assistance of grants from the Office International d’Hygiene Publique.

To combat the evils of malnutrition special officers in public health departments have been appointed in some of the States in order to make diet and nutritional surveys and advise on measures to be adopted for the improvement of the standard of the people’s diet.

As a result of an appreciation of the prevalence of poliomyelitis a research unit has been established at the Grant Medical College, Bombay. Delhi now has a special ward for child sufferers from poliomyelitis. Consequent on the discovery by an Indian scientist of the role of sanguinarine in epidemic dropsy two research units are working on the problem.

Under the auspices of the Therapeutic Trials Committee, therapeutic tests of the efficacy of sulpha drugs in cholera have been conducted both in Bihar and Bengal. Tests regarding the curative value of Streptomycin in the treatment of tuberculosis and plague have also been carried out.

Leprosy

Leprosy has been a scourge for centuries in certain parts of India. The Government of India appointed in 1948 a committee to report on the establishment of an All-India Leprosy Institute which is intended to be a centre for training and research. Financial stringency holds up action on the recommendations but valuable research continues.

The research side of the Tata Memorial Hospital in Bombay has been taken over by the Government of India and established as the Indian Cancer Research Centre.

That since the advent of Independence more and more attention is being turned towards the promotion of health as much by means of prevention as by hospitalization is indeed a healthy augury for the future.

It is a long lane that has no turning. The Government of India and State Governments may not be able to boast of much achievement within the short period of three years, but they can perhaps claim to have made people health-minded and that they are ready as soon as finance is available to go ahead with their many projects.

India can legitimately claim to have made notable advances in the field of medical research, particularly in subjects like Malaria, Cholera, Plague and Nutrition. On the other hand, what has been lacking has been the practical application to an adequate extent of the fruits of such research for the improvement of the health and welfare of the people. The main obstacle in this connection has been the fact that only a very small fraction of the revenues of Government have in the past been devoted to Health. The Ministry of Health realizes that India dare not lag behind any other advanced country in the matter of scientific progress in the field of modern medicine and has abundant faith in India’s future.

[Amrit Kaur (1887-1964) was the first health minister of India, serving in that position from 1947 to ’57. She helped set up the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), which was established in 1956, and served as its first president. This article was first published on January 26, 1951]

rec-icon Recommended Topics
Share this article
Catch your daily dose of Fashion, Taylor Swift, Health, Festivals, Travel, Relationship, Recipe and all the other Latest Lifestyle News on Hindustan Times Website and APPs.
See More
Catch your daily dose of Fashion, Taylor Swift, Health, Festivals, Travel, Relationship, Recipe and all the other Latest Lifestyle News on Hindustan Times Website and APPs.

For evolved readers seeking more than just news

Subscribe now to unlock this article and access exclusive content to stay ahead
E-paper | Expert Analysis & Opinion | Geopolitics | Sports | Games
SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON
SHARE
Story Saved
Live Score
Saved Articles
Following
My Reads
Sign out
New Delhi 0C
Sunday, February 16, 2025
Start 14 Days Free Trial Subscribe Now
Follow Us On