Section 16. The superintendents of the correctional institutions of the commonwealth, and the keepers and superintendents of jails and houses of correction shall cause a thorough physical examination to be made by a competent physician of each inmate in their respective institutions committed for a term of thirty days’ imprisonment or more. In conducting the examination special attention shall be given to determining the presence of communicable diseases, particularly venereal diseases as defined under section six of chapter one hundred and eleven and pulmonary tuberculosis.