4
Assistant Superintendent of Vaccination inspected 854,525 persons of 48.5
per cent. of the operations performed.
15. General remarks.—Government in their Circular No. 1270-74 San.,
dated the 3rd December 1918, decided that the Sanitary Inspector whom
each District Board is required to appoint under section 91 of the Local Self¬
Government Act shall possess registrable medical qualifications and a recog-
nised Diploma of Public Health. This officer will be appointed Inspector of
Vaccination and as such will, under Section 93 of the Act, exercise the
powers and perform the duties of Superintendent of Vaccination. He will
relieve the Civil Sugreon of his duties in regard to vaccination, the organisa-
tion of measures to prevent and mitigate outbreaks of epidemic diseases
and all other public health work in the District Board area. The vaccina-
tion inspecting staff in Government service will continue to be paid for by
Government but will be under the supervision and control of District Health
Officers with the exception of the question of their appointment, transfer
and dismissal. They should be trained in the principles of modern hygiene
and assist the District Health Officer in carrying out measures of public
health in addition to discharging their duties in connection with vaccination
and so form the nucleus of a district public health organization. Vaccina-
tion work in the rural areas of districts in the Presidency has been transferred
to District Boards with effect from the 1st July 1921. As reported last
year the Civil Surgeons of all the districts except Bankura, Murshidabad,
Bogra, Dacca, Bakarganj, Chittagong, Noakhali, Tippera, Darjeeling and
Chittagong Hill Tracts were relieved of the vaccination work by the District
Health Officers appointed by District Boards. Now the only districts in
which these officers have not yet been appointed are Darjeeling, Noakhali
and the Chittagong Hill Tracts but there is no District Board in the last dis-
trict and therefore the Civil Surgeon will continue to be the Superintendent
of Vaccination of the district. In Darjeeling a District Board has been
opened with effect from the 27th May 1922 and it is hoped that a Health
Officer will be appointed there shortly. Although a Health Officer has been
appointed by the District Board of Dacca, he has not yet been able to relieve
the Civil Surgeon of his vaccination duties. Free vaccination was intro-
duced during the year by the District Boards of Midnapur, Hooghly, Khulna,
Rajshahi, Dinajpur, Pabna, Malda and Faridpur and partly in the
Bankura, Bogra and Noakhali districts. Now the only districts in which the
licensed vaccination system is in vogue are Nadia, Murshidabad, Jessore,
Dacca, Mymensingh and in parts of Bankura, Bogra and Noakhali. Most
of the District Board delegates, at the Conference held in March 1922, were
in favour of the introduction of free vaccination and the local Government
have provided a sum of Rs. 50,000 in the current year's Budget estimates
to help the District Boards in the matter and have asked them to prepare
schemes for the purpose.
The pay of the vaccination inspectors and sub-inspectors was revised and
increased during the year and these officers are now styled Assistant Super-
intendents of Vaccination. Their pony allowance has also been increased.
No new recruitment is now made out of the old and inefficient stock of
vaccinators. Matriculates with a practical knowledge of hygiene are being
appointed.
16. The prescribed statements are appended to these notes.
CHAS. A. BENTLEY, M.B., D.P.H., D.T.M. & H.,
Director of Public Health, Bengal.
CALCUTTA,
The 30th November 1922.