§ MR. M'LAREN (Cheshire, Crewe)asked the Under Secretary of State for India, Whether his attention has been called to the Report of the Surgeon General with the Government of Bombay, dated June 15, 1887, on Civil Hospitals, in which he speaks in the highest terms of the Cama Hospital for Women, under the management of lady doctors—namely, Dr. Edith Peechy and Dr. Ellaby, and further he says that Dr. Edith Peechy has now, in addition to known high professional attainments, the claim to be regarded as successful in hospital administration; and, whether, in consequence of this Report, he will take steps to induce the Bombay Government to make the appointments of these lady doctors permanent, in the same manner and degree as similar appointments for male doctors, instead of only for five years, and to carry out the recommendation of Viscount Cross, sent in a despatch to India, that women should be put on the same footing as men in the Indian Medical Service?
§ THE UNDER SECRETARY OF STATE (Sir JOHN GORST) (Chatham)The Secretary of State has considered the Report of the Surgeon General of Bombay on Civil Hospitals, which is of a most satisfactory character as regards the services of the lady doctors. It was decided, in 1886, that the appointments in the Cama Hospital should be temporary only, and should be revised at the end of five years, in the light of the experience gained and the progress of medical education in India. The Secretary of State does not propose to shorten the period of probation which was then decided on.