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Show WAI Just ten years ago through the iniative of the Southern Branch we made our first contribution to Wai. Were we tired of building ? Here was a chance to go into a fine new building with a separate maternity ward that must remain closed for lack of help; could we not finance the woman's work under Dr. Rose Fairbanks Beats ? The N. M. Wa'dia Hospital of Wai is so called because a wealthy Brahman gentleman of Bombay left a legacy that provided one third of the cost of the building, the rest being raised through the arduous work of Dr. Lester and Dr. Rose Beats when on furlough. A child of the Mission, Dr. Rose Beats went back to her birthplace when her marriage to Dr. Lester Beats in 1905 took her with her unusually fine preparation to the medical work at Ahmednagar. But they were wanted at Wai where the work was exceedingly difficult, and it was hoped that a dispensary would so supplement the efforts being made that great numbers could be reached. In this there has been no disappointment, and another place has literally been opened at the point of the lancet, and opened in India where 100,000,000, one third of the vast population, can not reach medical aid. At first, as Dr. Rose Beats went out on her bicycle, she could see the wayfarers clearing the street, afraid even of her shadow. Ten years later, committees representing prominent townsmen were urging the proposition that the doctors take their furloughs separately so that the hospital need not be closed. The patients treated last year almost reached 20,000; but we will let Dr. Beats tell her own story, only adding that the staff now includes Dr. Walter Hume and a young Indian lady. Dr. David, a graduate of the Vellore Women's Medical College. It was a great disappointment to the workers that Miss Taylor could not remain with them, but in her place we now send out Miss Ruth Andrews in answer to the appeal for a trained nurse. "Wai is a religious place, full of temples and devotees. One-third of the people are educated Brahmins, and the majority of the rest are the respectable hard-working middle-class farmers. It is a place of about 10,000 people, situated on a river that never runs [ 68 ] |