1 LADY AITCHISON HOSPITAL, 607
2 more of the higher administrative posts, and of opening out to them a
3 career which will satisfy their aspirations.”
4 India owes a debt of undying gratitude to Lady Dufferin for organising a
5 scheme having forits object the supply of medical aid to the women of
6 India. Gifted by nature with a philanthropic mind and a charitable and
7 benevolent disposition, this noble lady inaugurated the National Associ-
8 ation, having for its object three different ends, namely, medical tuition,
9 medical relief, and the supply of trained nurses.
10 The unanimity expressed as to the desirability of the objects of such a
11 scheme, and the support it has met with from one end of India to the other,
12 have been most encouraging. All over India various centres of medical aid
13 have been established, and every endeavour is being made towards the
14 accomplishment of the scheme by giving a liberal training to women, to
15 enable them to serve as female doctors and render effectual medical relief
16 to the zendnd population. The Lady Aitchison Hospital at Léhore will, be-
17 sides the relief given to in-door female patients, serve, in connection with
18 the Medical College, as a school in which women will receive a thorough
19 medical training and be fitted to carry relief to other districts, and to work
20 in other hospitals which it is intended to establish, as the work of the
21 National Association in Calcutta progresses. Wherever female hospitals have
22 been established, female doctors and trained nurses have been employed, and
23 the multiplication of female wards in such hospitals, and the remarkable
24 proficiency displayed by native ladies in the studies they have undertaken,
25 show that the scheme is warmly appreciated by those whom it concerns.
26 The result arrived at has been particularly gratifying to the noble lady
27 who so deservedly shared the honours of her distinguished husband.
28 “Tt was,” said His Excellency, “inexpressibly gratifying, for it shows how,
29 even in the unchanging east, where improvement is so readily supposed to
30 knock vainly at the gates of cast-iron tradition, if only sympathy, kindness
31 and practical good sense inspire the effort, the doors fly open and joyfully
32 admit the train of blessings that follow the advance of all sound and well-
33 considered national progress.”
34 The National Association will prove a lasting memorial of the good
35 done to millions of women by Her Excellency Lady Dufferin, who, on her
36 , leaving the shores of this country, was followed by the prayers of thousands
37 upon thousands of Her Majesty’s Indian subjects.
38 One of the most brilliant achievements of Lord Dufferin’s term of
39 Viceroyalty has been the pacification of Upper Burmah. The Burmese are
40 Mongol in race and Buddhist in religion. Their country had, for generations,
41 been a prey to internal strife and commotions, which threatened to embroil
42 the British with one of the great military powers of Europe. The Govern-
43 ment was, therefore, compelled to have recourse to arms. The country was
44 invaded by British troops, and, in the course of a fortnight, the Burmese
45 army surrendered to the victors; their king was captured, and Mandalay, his
46 capital, occupied. The country, which was in a complete state of disorgani-
47 sation, has been tranquillised; quiet has succeeded to disorder, the formid-
48 able dacoit bands have been dispersed and their leaders disposed of. Vast
49 and impracticable jungles are now being reclaimed, roads are under con-
50 struction, military posts and telegraphic communication have been establish-
51 ed, and all the appliances of a civilised country introduced. Burmah now
52 forms an integral part of the British dominions. Its industrious inhabitants,
53 freed from the pest of dacoity, have applied themselves to the arts of peace,
54 and every hope is entertained that the Province will develop into one of
55 the most prosperous parts of Her Majesty’s Indian Empire, and add materially
56 Lady Dufferin's
57 scheme for supplying
58 medical aid to the
59 women of India,
60 The National Asso-
61 ciation, Calentta,
62 Its objects,
63 Centres of medical
64 aid established
65 throughout India.
66 The Lady Aitchison
67 Hospital, Lahore,
68 Lord Dufferin’s
69 views of the scheme,
70 The annexation of
71 Burmah.
72 Sri Satguru J agjit Singh Ji eLibrary NamdhariElibrary@ gmail.com