Abstract from Report

from Report ?EP0RT OF THE ALL-INDIA INSTIr^TT^U?F HYGIENE AND PUBLIC HEALTH FOR THE YEAR 1934 it ^ (^e first Annual Report of the Institute, will not be out of place to recapitulate shortly the eas and events which led to the conception of an fi ~ii la . s^tute of Hygiene, to its construction, and np mi'H {ormaj opening on 30th December, 1932. health policy in India started with the taking uver oi the administration of British India by the irlTY1 r" ^7. The high mortalities among British ti. troops and in the civil population attracted w?e attention of Parliament and in 1860 a Royal Comission visited India and made recommendations for t ^rupio\ ement of health and sanitary conditions in aia. ihis Commission recommended that sanitary mi?llsslons should be appointed in the major 1 o\ inces of Madras, Bengal and Bombay. These <>n ,mi?31?ns were established and for some years did ? oci work. Departmental jealousies and other causes i *? *keir gradual emasculation and by 1900 y had been reduced to one officer, the sanitary commissioner, who had little or no staff and whose les were largely confined to inspecting vaccinations, in16 a?ven^ ?* plague in 1896 led to a general awakenKrfnu e^er-yone's responsibilities in the matter of p and Prevention of disease, and in 1912 the overnment of India formulated an important declaran ot sanitary policy, establishing research on a sound asis, and giving grants to local governments for the gmentauonof their sanitary staff, both central and L, ?-V+n<ilaiu Government of India in a resolution mur i ,i\ candidates for assistant directorships of ; Ki wi ^ \f,houli! have a British Diploma of Public j n.,; ,ea^fi officers of first class towns were rej p,-0 have a registrable qualification and a British st.,? ut>Iic_ Health. In this resolution they tt" . necessity for a British Diploma of Public #t .owever only be temporary, as the Governthr, ? ~,n a trust that it may be possible to waive r^-. i second restriction as soon as arrangements can be ? ' c, m /ncjm which will enable Indians trained in this country to become health officers of the first class'. irovmcial governments took up the question of h?lume anc' qualifications in public ' ?} an" fisher diplomas and degrees demanding "L -01 10 courses of training were initiated by the univerrpuCS , ?ombay, Madras, Calcutta and Lucknow. ese, on ever, naturally retained a provincial outlook. j? conception of providing courses in hygiene on a 1 ni! ' Jasis. originated with Sir Leonard Rogers who in TnricPnceiV(;d the idea of establishing institutes in l, -a or Ppst-graduate study in tropical medicine and ' Leonard's first proposal was that there ,)n i be a School of Tropical Medicine in Calcutta, ' f .,an Institute^ of Hygiene in Bombay, and that both pi,.v. fCSe misht be on an all-India basis. Various cirfvr, S ance? and considerations prevented these views Si,-'1} com:"? to fruition, but it was chiefly owing to tr. eona!'d Rogers' perseverance and enthusiasm and Ron 10i scnei'osity of the Governments of India and th? r'1 i an/; ?nou.s Private benefactions, that in 1920 , alci?tta School of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene, ci. combined teaching and research in both tropical lcine and hygiene, was opened. A Professorship in ? ? nn?n?i ^Yas established, and a course of instruction ? iged in the School for the Diploma of Public Health of the Calcutta University. There were obvious limitations to the scope and outlook of this arrangement. However enthusiastic one man may be, there are now so many aspects of public health both of temperate and tropical climates, each of which is rapidly developing and requires the full attention of a single worker and teacher, that it is impossible for a single person to combine the qualities or to find the time necessary to assimilate, digest and teach the diverse subjects comprising the entity known as modern public health. Workers highly trained in general hygiene and specialists in some particular branch are needed in India, and as time goes on and public health policy broadens and expands in all Indian provinces, such workers trained in Indian needs and with Indian experience will be more and more required. Major-General Sir J. D. Graham, the then Public Health Commissioner with the Government of India, said in his Annual Report for 1925 (Section VIII) :?? ' The need of providing training for public health workers.?Certain conclusions have been forced upon me after careful study of the position over the last few years. It is becoming increasingly evident that a considerable section of the Indian community is thinking seriously on these public health problems'. ' This is a work which has to be done for the benefit of Indians. To be effective it must carry conviction and establish its position against immemorial conservatism and tradition, it must therefore be done by Indians. It presents a grand and unlimited field for public health workers, but it is well to recognize that the improvement cannot be achieved when the expert labourers are too few in number, that these cannot be increased to the requisite number without a careful system of specialized training in institutes or schools devoted to public health teaching and research, and that cannot be done without adequate financial support. The need for such training of Indian personnel has been advocated for the last two decades by our expert hygienics and research workers in India. It has often been represented, and not without justice, that scientific knowledge in regard to the prevention of certain communicable diseases has far outstripped its application in the field. It is with such a personnel that the practical application must finally rest'. As head of the Calcutta School of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene, Major-General Sir John Megaw arrived at similar views, which were expressed from time to time in the annual reports of the School. Dr. W. S. Carter, Associate Director of the Rockefeller Foundation, in his periodic tours of India and the Far East, met General Megaw and General Graham on various occasions and became deeply impressed with the necessity for establishing an all-India institute of hygiene. Much of the teaching in basic subjects, such as bacteriology and protozoology, for the Diploma of Public Health is similar to that for the Diploma of Tropical Medicine, and as this was being taught in the School of Tropical Medicine, Dr. Carter at once grasped the obvious advantages of Calcutta as a location for an all-India institute, and of a site close to the Calcutta School of Tropical Medicine, where the basic subjects would continue to be taught. It would thus be unnecessary to duplicate these courses, and at the same time the institute would deal with purely public health subjects especially related -to Indian requirements. As a result of discussion with General Megaw and others, 534 THE INDIAN MEDICAL GAZETTE [Sept., 1935 Dr. Carter, on behalf of the Rockefeller Foundation, addressed the Government of India in terms embodying these proposals, offering to provide the cost of acquiring the site selected, and to build and equip an all-India institute of hygiene and public health, and further asking for the Government of India's assurance that they would meet the recurring cost of staff and maintenance after the building was handed over to them. The Government of India gratefully accepted this munificent offer and negotiations for the acquisition of the site were commenced. This was acquired finally in July 1930, and the site was cleared and building commenced in September. A constructional committee composed of the Public Health Commissioner with the Government of India, the Surgeon-General with the Government of Bengal, the Chief Engineer with the Government of Bengal, the Chairman of the Calcutta Improvement Trust, and the Accountant-General, Bengal, was appointed to arrange for the construction of the building. Lieutenant-Colonel A. D. Stewart, Professor of Hygiene in the Calcutta School of Tropical Medicine, was appointed Director-designate of the new Institute, and Lieutenant-Colonel A. A. E. Baptist, Assistant. Director, to superintend the actual details of construction and equipment. The building was completed early in 1932 and was formally opened by H. E. Sir John Anderson, Governor of Bengal, H. E. the Viceroy being unable to perform the function owing to indisposition. The building practically adjoins the School of Tropical Medicine with which it harmonizes in design and appearance. The plan is based on the ' unit room' system, the unit room being 25 by 21 feet. The building is four storied and is E-shaped, the long limb being in the centre. Six sections can be accommodated, viz, (1) Public Health Administration, (2) Sanitary Engineering, (3) Vital Statistics and Epidemiology, (4) Biochemistry and Nutrition, (5) Malariology and Rural Hygiene, and (6) Maternity and Child Welfare and School Hygiene. Each section has one unit room for the head of the section and two unit rooms for the workers. The working sections are placed in the central limb of the building, facing north with an excellent and unimpeded north light. In the west block are placed the administrative rooms, lecture theatre, practical class rooms, museum, and a large auditorium to seat 200 people. The eastern limb houses store rooms, common room, and lunch room for students, spare working rooms and lavatories, while a separate annexe provides for an animal room on each floor. The library is in the centre block on the top floor. Three unit rooms on each floor and the library and reading room are provided with conditioned air during the hot months of the year. The head of each section has a cooled unit room and in addition there is a spare cooled unit room on each floor where workers on that floor may work in comfort, or engage in any special work requiring a cooled atmosphere. Owing to the sudden financial crisis at the end of 1931, the Government of India found themselves unab