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CHAPTER XIV,

is done will it be possible to obtain the useful information which these
figures should provide.

Sickness Statistics.
We met with even greater difficulties in connection with tke
incidence of sickness among industrial workers. Few employers know
the rates of sickness among their workers, and little is known of the
amount of sickness in the general population. The ‘records of hospital
out-patient departments and of dispensaries refer to the general
population living in their vicinity. Even where a particular industrial
concern maintains its own medical staff and dispensary, the Indian
worker frequently absents himself from work without reporting
to the factory doctor. In a number of industrial concerns it is necessary
bo keep an additional 10 per cent of workers on the wage-books as substitutes
 to fill the places of absentees, but neither this figure nor the
figures for absenteeism can be used as a basis for estimating sickness
rates, since the Indian worker stays away from his work for many reasons
besides sickness.

Inferences from Available Figures.
Erroneous though they are, the registered statistics show that
birth rates generally are extraordinarily high as compared with those
prevailing in Western countries, and both general and infantile mortality
rates are correspondingly high. The general death rate in India, on a
conservative estimate, may be taken to be between 30 and 35 per 1,000.
It is known that the average expectation of life at birth is only about
25 years, as compared with over 54 years in Great Britain. These two
figures, although approximate, make it certain that sickness rates for
the general population are several times higher than the corresponding
rates in Britain. This brings us no nearer an estimate of the actual rates
among industrial workers, but it is certain that sickness and disease exact
a heavy toll and detract from their efficiency and earning capacity to a
marked extent,
Medical Registrars.

The necessity of improved vital statistics is generally recognised,
and in several provinces marked improvements have been effected within
 recent years by stricter supervision and more effective inspection. It is
essential, however, that municipal councils and local bodies, who are
primarily responsible for registration, should devote much more attenbion
 to the matter. In the larger towns and the more important industrial
 areas, at least, the appointment of medical registrars should be compulsory
 since only then will it be possible to improve the classification of
causes of death. This has already been done in certain areas and, as a
result, special investigations which were previously impossible have
been suceessfully carried out.

Institute of Nutrition.
We now consider some of the methods which should be adopted
for improving the general health conditions of the industrial worker.