There were indications that some segments of the population, those in remote and most poverty-stricken areas, were in poor health. A 1968-69 study of 1,580 children up to three years of age in thirteen northern localities, reported by the Ministry of Health, showed that 60 percent suffered from neuromuscular disorders in various degrees and that 47 percent suffered from rickets. The principal causes for these abnormalities, according to the official study, were malnutrition and unsatisfactory hygienic-sanitary conditions. Health and medical organizations from national to local levels were under the Ministry of Health. In the 1960s the departments of the ministry were: epidemiology, pharmaceuticals, sanitary inspectorate, medical prophylactic institutions, personnel, administration, finance, and planning. Data for 1968 reported by the minister of health listed facilities countrywide as: 196 hospitals and other facilities with beds; 11,922 beds for medical use; 1,108 first aid stations and polyclinics; and 36 dispensaries and tuberculosis centers. The average annual increase in hospital beds from 1950 to 1968 was 323; in 1968 there was 1 bed for every 169 inhabitants. The total number of persons employed in health and medicine increased from 9,881 in 1960 to 14,370 in 1967. The numbers of professional and semiskilled workers in 1969 were: physicians, 1,396; stomatologists (mouth specialists), 183; pharmacists, 262; medical aides, 725; dental assistants, 139; pharmacist assistants, 334; midwives, 1,091; nurses, 4,100; and laboratory technicians, 737. Dentists were not listed as a separate category. The average number of inhabitants per doctor in the districts was approximately 2,000; however, in two districts the average was over 3,000, and in one, less than 1,000. All medical personnel were in government employ, and no private medical practice existed. The expansion of medical services after World War II was made possible to a large extent by accelerated training programs. A school for training medical assistants was begun in 1948 and, starting in the early 1950s, the Red Cross conducted courses for semiskilled medical workers. A medical college for training professional personnel was established in 1952; in 1957 it became the Faculty of Medicine of the State University of Tirana, and the first doctors were graduated that year. During the 1950s most physicians were trained in the Soviet Union. In the late 1960s the number of persons undergoing training as midwives was increased, and the goal was to have at least one midwife in every village by June 1971.