CHAPTER V MEDICAL EXAMINATION - Indian Railways

1 66 CHAPTER V MEDICAL EXAMINATION Section A: MEDICAL EXAMINATION of Candidates for appointment to the Gazetted Railway Service. 501. Introduction:-(1) The standards of physical fitness to be adopted should make due allowance for the age and length of service, if any, of the candidate concerned. (2) No person will be deemed qualified for admission to the public service who shall not satisfy the Government, or the appointing authority, as the case may be, that he has no disease, constitutional affliction or bodily infirmity unfitting him, or likely to unfit him for that service.

2 (3) It should be understood that the question of fitness involves the future as well as the present and that one of the main objectives of MEDICAL EXAMINATION is to secure continuous effective service, and in the case of candidates for permanent appointment, to prevent early pension or payment in case of premature death. It is at the same time to be noted that the question is one of likelihood of continuous effective service, and that rejection of candidate need not be advised on account of the presence of a defect which, in only a small proportion of cases is found to interfere with continuous effective service. (4) MEDICAL EXAMINATION of candidates for appointment to Gazetted Railway service includes :- (i) general physical EXAMINATION (ii) vision tests (5) Details of these examinations are given below 502.

3 General Physical EXAMINATION :- (1) To be passed as fit for appointment, a candidate must be in good mental and bodily health and free from any physical defect likely to interfere with the efficient performance of his duties of appointment. (2) In the matter of the co-relation of age, height and chest girth of candidate it is left to the MEDICAL board to use whatever co-relation figures are considered most suitable as a guide in the EXAMINATION of the candidate. If there be any disproportion with regard to height, weight and chest girth, the candidate should be hospitalised for investigation and X-ray of the chest taken before the candidate is declared fit, or not fit, by the board. (3) However, for certain services, the minimum standard for height and chest girth of male and female candidates should be as follows:- Height Chest girth fully Expansion (cm) expanded (cm) (cm) Candidates.

4 - Railway Engineering Male 152 84 5 Services (Civil, Electrical, Signal and Mechanical), Transportation (Operating and Female 150 79 5 Commercial)Departments, Railway Protection Force, the posts in the Marine Establishment and Special Class Railway Apprentices. Note:- (i) The minimum height prescribed can be relaxed in case of candidates belonging to races such as Gorkhas, Garhwalis, Assamese, Nagaland tribal, whose average height is distinctly lower.

5 67 (ii) The candidate's height will be measured as follows:- He will remove his shoes and be placed against the standard with his feet together and his weight thrown on the heels and not on the toes or the sides of the feet. He will stand erect without rigidity and with heels, calves, buttocks and shoulders touching the standard, the chin will be depressed to bring the vertex of the head level under the horizontal bar, and the height will be recorded in centimetres and part of centimetres rounded to the nearest half. (iii) The candidate's chest will be measured as follows:- He will be made to stand erect with his feet together and to raise his arms over his head. The tape will be so adjusted round the chest that it's upper edge touches the inferior angle of the shoulder blades behind and lies in the same horizontal plane when the tape is taken round the chest.

6 The arms will then be lowered to hang loosely by the sides and care will be taken that the shoulders are not thrown upwards or backwards so as to displace the tape. The candidate will then be directed to take a deep inspiration several times and the maximum expansion of the chest will be carefully noted and the minimum and the maximum will then be recorded in centimetres rounded off to the nearest half centimetres. (4) In recording the height and chest measurements, fractions of less than half a centimetres should not be noted. (5) The candidate will be weighed and his/her weight recorded in kilograms; fraction of less than half a kilogram should not be noted. (6) The following additional points should be observed:- (a) that the candidate's hearing in each ear is good and that there is no sign of disease of the ear.

7 In case it is defective, the candidate should be got examined by an specialist provided that the defect in hearing is remediable by operation or by use of hearing aid, a candidate cannot be declared unfit on that account provided he has no progressive disease in the ear ( for further guidelines see sub para (7) below) (b) that the speech is without impediment (c) that his/her teeth are in good order and he/she is provided with dentures, where necessary, for effective mastication ( well filled teeth will be considered as sound); (d) that the chest is well formed and chest expansion sufficient; and that his/her heart and lungs are sound; (e) that there is no evidence of any abdominal disease; (f) that he/she is not having a hernia; (g) that the candidate does not suffer from hydrocoele, varicose veins or piles; (h) that his/her limbs, hands and feet are well formed and developed and that there is free and perfect motion of all joints; (i) that he/she does not suffer from inveterate skin disease; (j) that there is no congenital malformation or defect; (k) that he/she does not bear traces of acute or chronic disease pointing to an impaired constitution; (l) that he/she is free from communicable diseases.

8 Note:- Undescended testes, intra abdominal in position, and un-associated with hernia, should not be cause for rejection. Ectopic testes, located in the inguinal canal, abdominal wall or thigh being more liable for trauma/torsion, should be passed fit only after the examinee has undergone surgical treatment. (7) The following are the guidelines for the MEDICAL examining authority in respect of hearing and diseases of ear, nose and throat:- (i) Marked or total deafness in one ear, other Fit for non technical jobs if the deafness is up to 30 68 ear being normal. decibels in higher frequency. (ii) Perceptive deafness in both ears in which Fit in respect of both technical and non-technical some improvement is possible by a hearing jobs if deafness is up to 30 decibels in speech aid frequencies of 1000-4000 (iii) Perforation of tympanic membrane of (i) one ear normal; other ear perforation of tympanic central or marginal type membrane present- temporarily unfit.

9 Under improved conditions of ear surgery a candidate with marginal or other perforation in both ears should be given a chance by declaring him temporarily unfit and then he may be considered under item(iv)(ii) below.

10 (ii) Marginal or attic perforation in both ears-unfit. (iii) Central perforation both ears -temporarily unfit. (iv) Ears with mastoid cavity sub-normal hearing (i) Either ear normal hearing, other ear with mastoid on one or both sides cavity -fit for both technical and non-technical jobs. (ii) Mastoid cavity both sides- unfit for technical jobs. -Fit for non-technical jobs if hearing improves to 30 decibels in either ear with or without hearing aid.