Items of Medical Progress in India
From the last number of the Eastern Tidings we gather the following items of news regarding the medical work in India:— “Our medical work, while meeting with hindrances, has made some advancement. For two years we have had no sanitarium. We had hoped that a sanitarium might be opened this year, but we now find that funds are not immediately available and that such an undertaking must be delayed. The treatment-rooms in Calcutta and Mussoorie have enjoyed a growing patronage and above all expenses, including rent and cost of operation, have cleared $1,500 the past year. We have now had sufficient experience in carrying on treatment-room work to feel reasonably assured that institutions of this sort, if provided with suitable appliances, located in a good section, and supplied with sufficient help, can be successfully operated in several of the large cities of India and Burma. This line of work is an excellent means of breaking down prejudice among both Europeans and Indians. It gives prestige to our work, and provides a means of coming in touch with people who would not attend our meeting halls and could not be induced to enter a sanitarium. “The Herald of Health continues to meet a want in the field. During the last year the magazine was enlarged and during the last biennial term the circulation increased from 1,500 to 3,500. We see no reason why its circulation should not again be doubled in the next two years. Perhaps the greatest work before us in medical lines is that for the poor away from hospitals provided by the government in European centers. Medical missionaries who have had probably the largest measure of success in India have found a wide area where the need of medical help is great and where the prestige of their work has told for the advancement of the kingdom of Christ. “Our dispensaries have given us entrance into the homes of the people; of this we are positively assured. The poor have been healed and lives have been saved. Our dispensary workers are doing more than ever before in teaching the gospel to those who come for treatment; this, it seems to us, is the most important and solemn responsibility that rests upon the missionary nurse. No number of treatments, however many, will win a soul to Christ except these are accompanied by the winning word of the gospel of truth. “There are two problems that concern us in our dispensary work. The first is that of adapting the principles of healthful living to teach the poor to live in conformity to health principles and to treat those who are sick. We should be the greatest medical missionaries in this country. Our health principles are surely needed in this lazar-house of need, and by the blessing of God they may be a growing and effective means in turning souls to Christ. “Medical work has been carried on at Gopalganj, East Bengal, our head station, and God has greatly blessed in the work, some remarkable cures having been effected. One poor woman had been afflicted for years with a disease that bent her double and forced her to crawl wherever she went. One day she crawled to the dispensary, where, after a few days’ treatment, she was able to stand, and finally went away walking, having fully regained her health. Sister Watson, with the aid of a native helper, has operated this dispensary for the last year. “Medical work is also an evangelical factor in the work at Karmatar. The village people, though very poor, gave this year toward the dispensary work about one hundred fifty rupees. This was a great encouragement to those who have labored to build up the medical work at this station, for these gifts showed very clearly that the work is being appreciated. “In Najibabad, Sisters B. A. Kurtz and M. B. Shryock have been laboring. Sister Kurtz had a working knowledge of the language when the work in Najibabad was started, and was at once able to minister both to the physical and spiritual needs of the dispensary and in the homes. Sister Shryock, after taking a year off for the study of language, is also able to conduct Bible studies among the women of the city. An average of twenty patients a day has been treated in the dispensary, some days there being ninety-six patients. A number of Bible studies and gospel talks have also been added to the day’s labors. About five rupees a month is received from patients for outside treatments. “The location of this station in its relation to our other work, the climate, and the attitude of the people is such that this year it was decided to buy land and erect a mission bungalow. This is being done, and will make for stronger and more fruitful work in coming years. A dispensary building in which the women, the oppressed, downtrodden sisters of India, may receive loving care in an effort to win their souls to Christ, is also a crying need of this city and district with thousands of Mohammedans and Hindus. “With the large population of educated Indians, both Hindus and Mohammedans, who are antagonistic to Christianity but are in sympathy with our health principles, our health work must always occupy a very unique place. Though we began to publish the Herald of Health but three years ago, we now have 2,800 regular subscribers, with monthly issues of 3,500. From correspondence with readers and by our canvassers we are greatly encouraged to believe that many will be directed to the special message for this time through the message of health which this journal contains. “The first day after our return ten women came. The second day we had a call from a rajah living about two miles distant. He with some European friends was hunting, and they had camped about eight miles from his home. One of the women of the party had jumped from the elephant while it was kneeling, and was injured internally. We found that it would be necessary for her to remain in bed two or three weeks, and have vigorous treatment and careful nursing. The rajah asked us if we could not take her home with us and care for her, but we had to tell him that we had no place to keep her, as we had no hospital. So the next day we took her to Bareilly, where she could be cared for. “Another day just as we were leaving the dispensary a patient suffering from a badly infected arm came in. After we had lanced and dressed it, he was greatly relieved and felt so grateful that he fell at our feet and began to bless us. We have been caring for him for several days, and he often remarks that we have saved his life. “To-day a little boy was brought to the dispensary on a bed. He was badly burned, and needed attention during the day, but as we had no suitable place we were compelled to put him on the dispensary veranda. “At another house was a young woman who also had been treated at the dispensary. She asked us to sing, and we had sung only one verse when a number of women from near-by homes came in. This young woman asked us if we would wait until she could make us some bread, but we told her no. She said, ‘I haven’t anything in the house to give you to eat,’ and insisted that we take money to buy some fruit from the bazaar. “Our medical work has so broken down prejudice in the station that as we walk along the street the women and children call to us to come in and sing and read to them. Yesterday we gained entrance in this way to six new homes where they want us to teach the Bible. In one of these homes there were fifteen women collected. The openings are more than we can fill.”