Conditions In The Indian Medical Service.

This letter to the editor asserts that the medical situation among the Navajos and Zunis is deplorable and the Commissioner of Indian Affairs is indifferent. Physicians and nurses are underpaid and staffing is inadequate, given the needs. There is no adequate dental service. Broadly speaking, there is no Indian Health Service and very little is done to prevent the occurrence of disease. Registration of births and deaths is far from complete. The Navajo death rate from TB is appalling (2847 per hundred thousand, and the frequency of trachoma is not less than 25%. The Indian Medical Service should be transferred to the Public Health Service, where it would seem more properly to belong. Comments from the editor follow.