is of no importance whether the forty beds are in one place or two:
forty in-patients fill the beds.

But in medical work, when we are considering the need of the district,
another factor of importance often enters. The medicals of the mission
are often not the only men meeting that need. There are often others,
Government officials, or private practitioners, who, from the point of
view of medical practice, are doing the same work. The medical need of a
district where the missionary doctor is the only exponent of western
medicine is not the same as that of the district where he is competing
with Government or private doctors fully trained as he is. Consequently
it is essential in order to understand the position that we should know
what other, non-missionary, medical assistance is available, and we
need the following table:--

---------------------------------------------------------------------
|Hospitals.|Qualified|Assistants.|Nurses.|Dispensaries.|Beds.
| |Practi- | | | |
tioners. | | | |
--------|----------|---------|-----------|-------|-------------|---
| | | | | |
Mission-| | | | | |
ary| ____ | ____ | ____ | ____ | ____ | ___
--------------------------------------------------------------------
| | | | | |
Non- | | | | | |
Mission-| | | | | |
ary| ____ | ____ | ____ | ____ | ____ | ___
| | | | | |
---------------------------------------------------------------------