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SHORT NOTES ON VACCINATION FOR THE YEAR
1915-16.
The following are brief notes on Vaccination for the year 1915-16.
2. Officer in charge of the Department.—Lieutenant-Colonel W. W.
Clemesha, I.M.S., was in charge of the Department from 1st to 10th April 1915,
when he was appointed to act as Sanitary Commissioner with the Government
of India, and I relieved him and held charge till the end of the year.
Of the four Deputy Sanitary Commissioners attached to this Presidency,
there were none either in the Presidency or the Burdwan Circle. Dr. R. B.
Khambata, Deputy Sanitary Commissioner of the Rajshahi Circle, acted as
Civil Surgeon of Jalpaiguri in addition to his own duties, and so he was
unable to inspect vaccination work in his circle, except a few cases in the
Jalpaiguri district. Thus practically there was only one Deputy Sanitary
Commissioner, viz., that in the Dacca Circle. Dr. M. E. Sufi held charge of
this circle from 1st April 1915 to 14th March 1916, when he went on privilege
leave, and Dr. B. B. Brahmachari remained in charge from 15th to 31st March
1916.
3. Strength of the Staff.—In Calcutta the number of permanent
inspecting officers and operators was the same as in the year before, viz.,
7 and 44. In the Provincial rural areas the inspecting staff and the operators
numbered 127 and 1,360, while that in mufassal municipalities and dispensaries,
etc., were 5 and 163, the corresponding figure for last year being 123. 1,311, 5
and 143, respectively. The increase in the number of inspecting officers in
rural areas is due to the appointment of four temporary Sub-Inspectors of
Vaccination in the Sadar subdivision of the Bakarganj district where free
vaccination was carried on from 29th October 1915 by the District Board,
Government contributing Rs. 3,500 towards the cost of the scheme.
4. General Operations.—The total number of operations performed in
this Presidency during the year under review was 1,639,383 against 1,605,711
in the preceding year, the number of persons vaccinated being 1,635,621 and
1,600,362, respectively. Of the total number of cases 1,267,114 were primary
and 372,269 revaccinations against 1,139,384 and 466,327 during 1914-15.
There was thus an increase of 127,730 in primary vaccination and a decrease
of 94,058 in revaccination cases, the net increase during the year being
33,672.
Compared with the previous year there was an increase of operations in
18 and a decrease in 10 districts including Calcutta. The increase is most
striking in Bakarganj (49,357), Mymensingh (32,108). Tipperah (21,089),
Dacca (18,710), Khulna (14,505), Faridpur (9,675). Pabna (9,348), Nadia
(9,004), Darjeeling (7,642), Bankura
(6,312), Birbhum
(5,311), and
Rajshahi (5 256). The largest increase was in Bakarganj and this was due
almost solely to the introduction of a special scheme of free vaccination in
the Sadar subdivision of the district. In Mymensingh the increase is said
to be due to the activity of the staff and to the help received from the
District Officers in overcoming opposition to vaccination. The increase in
Tippera is ascribed to similar causes. In Dacca, Faridpur and Nadia the
increase is attributed to the healthiness of the districts during the year as well
as to the activity on the part of the vaccination inspecting staff. In Khulna
the increase was mostly in revaccinations due to steps being taken to
superess an outbreak of small-pox in the Satkhira subdivision during the
working season and to the practical help given by the Subdivisional Officer of
Satkhira in inducing adults to be revaccinated. In Bankura, Birbhum and
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