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TWELFTH TRIENNIAL REPORT ON VACCINATION IN BENGAL
FOR THE YEARS 1920-21, 1921-22 AND 1922-23.
1. I submit the following report on Vaccination in Bengal for the
triennial period from 1920-21 to 1922-23.
2. Officer-in-charge of the department.—I was in superior charge of
the department throughout the triennial period except for the period from
the 21st April 1921 to the 23rd October 1921 when I was on leave and
Dr. R. B. Khambata held the charge. During this triennium, the post of a
whole-time Assistant Director of Public Health was created to deal with the
subjects of Vaccination and Vital Statistics of the Presidency under my
direction. Dr. Sufi was appointed to the post with effect from the 17th Sep-
tember 1921. He went on leave on the 9th January 1922 when Dr. Batra
held charge till the 31st March 1923.
Dr. Brahmachari was in charge of the Presidency Circle throughout this
triennial period ; Drs. Ray, Ghosh and Sur, of the Burdwan Circle ; Drs. Sufi,
Ghosh and Ray, of the Dacca Circle and Drs. Ghosh, Sen, Ray and Gupta, of
the Rajshahi Circle.
3. Strength of staff.—The average number of inspecting officers
and vaccinators in Calcutta were 14 and 48 during the triennial period under
report against 14 and 62 during the previous epoch. In the rural areas of
the Presidency, they numbered 133 and 1,639, and in the mufassal munici-
palities, dispensaries, etc., 7 and 170 as compared with 133 and 1,576,
and 6 and 170 during the previous triennial period.
4. General operations.—The total number of operations reported to
have been performed in the Presidency during the year 1922-23 was 2,006,140
on 2,001,948 persons against 1,761,626 on 1,758,697 persons during the
previous year, showing an increase of 244,514 or 13.8 per cent. operations.
Of the total operations 1,526,385 or 76.1 per cent. were recorded as primary
and 479,755 or 23.9 per cent. as re-vaccinations against 1,266,551 or 72
per cent. primary and 495,075 or 28.1 per cent. re-vaccinations during the
year 1921-22. There was thus during the year 1922-23 an increase of
259,834 or 20.5 per cent. in primary and a decrease of 15,320 or 3.02
per cent. in re-vaccination operations. The average number of operations
performed during the triennial period under review was 2,031,422 with
1,404,324 primary and 627,098 re-vaccinations, the corresponding figures for
the previous triennial period being 2,195,353, 1,432,923 and 762,430 respec-
tively. There was thus a decrease of 163,931 operations on an average
during this triennial period, showing a falling off of 28,599 cases in primary
and 135,332 in re-vaccination. Severe outbreak of small-pox throughout the
Presidency was chiefly the cause of the greatly increased amount of vacci-
nation during the previous triennium.
Though there was a decrease in the average number of vaccinations,
as compared with that of the previous triennial period, it will be seen that
in comparing the figures of the year 1922-23 with those of the previous
year, the state of vaccination work in the Presidency was satisfactory.
The average rate of success in primary and re-vaccinations during the triennial
period was slightly lower than that in the previous triennium, viz., 95.9
and 62.9 against 96.7 and 67.9. The average number of operations per-
formed by a vaccinator was 1,089 against 1,187 of the previous triennium.
The average work of a paid and licensed vaccinator was 1,196 and 826
against 1,365 and 1,105 of the previous triennium.
As compared with the previous year (1921-22) there was an increase of
total operations in 18 and a decrease in 10 districts, including Calcutta.
The increase was most marked in Mymensingh (57,573), Rangpur (45,609),
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