The Department of the Interior's Bureau of Indian Affairs issued a requirement that Indians must possess a certificate of degree of Indian blood in order to receive services at an Indian Health Service facility. The Bureau does not administer a health service program for Indians, but does issue certificates of Indian blood when proper proof has been presented. The responsibility for the medical and hospital care of Indian people was transferred in 1955 by Congress to the U. S. Public Health Service, Department of Health, Education and Welfare.