20
ABSTRACT OF REPORTS BY SUPERINTENDENTS.
against 50,692 in 1878-79, or an increase of 63,660. While the number of persons have
greatly increased (more than doubled), the ratio of success has declined from 99.50 in the
previous year to 98.96 in the year under report. The average number of persons vaccinated
by each vaccinator was 1,395, against 1,084 in 1878-79. The cost of each successful case was
0.82 pie, against 1.86 pies in the previous year. The Superintendent states that he can
hardly look to the favourable results of the past year without serious misgivings for the future,
and regrets that the licensed vaccinators have lost heart, and that there are no openings for
the candidates who worked in an honorary capacity.
Distribution.—Unpaid agency operations extended over Dacca, Furreedpore, Pubna, and
Mymensingh, and the operations of the licensed agency were confined to Dacca and Furreed-
pore districts only. Fifty-five men applied for and obtained licenses for the Dacca district. Of
this number 48 took up work and seven dropped off. In Furreedpore 51 men obtained licenses
and 39 only took up work. The men were distributed in all the thanas in the district of
Dacca, and in Furreedpore, out of 13 thanas comprising this district, 12 had a complement of
vaccinators.
Inspection.—Inspector Raj Mohun Malakur inspected 7,141 cases in the Dacca district,
of which 5,911 were successful, or a percentage of 82.77. In the Furreedpore district
Inspector Baikunto Nath Bhumik inspected 10,083 cases with 9,910, or a ratio per cent. of
98.28, successful cases.
Fees—inability of licensed vaccinators to recover.—The Superintendent lays stress on the
inability of the licensed vaccinators to recover their fees, and adds that if the self-supporting
system of vaccination is not to be strangled in its infancy, interference of some sort is imper-
atively called for. The following remarks of the Superintendent are pertinent and demand
early attention:—
" In the districts of Dacca, Furreedpore, and Pubna inoculation is prohibited by law.
On the one hand the people for the present do not, and reasonably cannot, have had sufficient
time to realize, at least in Eastern Bengal, the superiority of vaccination over their time-
honored inoculation to prefer the former to the latter. As a matter of fact I know that they
receive, in the vast majority of instances, vaccination not from preference, but to evince a
loyal confidence in the desire of Government to do what is good for them; and so long as
they found Government willing to offer them vaccination gratis they took it, but not
without much persuasion and tactical handling. Now, however, when they are asked
whether they will receive it and pay for it, knowing it to be optional with them to refuse or
accept it, the overwhelming majority refuse it. Again, on the other hand, the licensed
vaccinators have adopted vaccination as a livelihood. If they cannot live by it, it is only
reasonable to suppose they will in the course of time abandon it for something that will pay."
ORISSA CIRCLE.
Report and returns.—The fifth annual report of the Orissa circle of vaccination reached
my office on the 12th June. It is written by the Deputy Superintendent, Assistant Surgeon
Prisitosh Haldar, and is forwarded through the Civil Surgeon, Magistrate, and Commissioner.
Establishment and the arrangement of parties.—The establishment continued the same as
in the previous season. The strength of the vaccine staff consisted of three head vaccinators,
25 vaccinators, and 5 apprentices. The 30 vaccinators, including 5 apprentices, were divided
into three parties of ten under a head vaccinator. One party worked in thana Dharmsala,
another in Hurrihurpore in sub-division Cuttack, and the third commenced operations in
Salapur town. The situations selected were those which lay contiguous to the areas pre-
viously protected. Outbreak of small-pox in the sub-division of Kendrapara much interfered
with the systematic working of the last gang.
Establishment of virus.—The first supply of lymph received from Calcutta proved unsuc-
cessful. With the second supply the vaccinators succeeded in raising good genuine vesicles.
A batch of children were then vaccinated, and the supply of virus thus established was kept
up throughout the whole working season. The practice of arm-to-arm vaccination was
adopted, but in a few exceptional cases, where vaccinifers could not be procured on account of
distance or opposition of parents to allow lymph to be taken from the arms of their
children, the vaccinators were obliged to resort to tubes and crusts.
Working of establishment.—The vaccinators protected 1,263 villages and performed
43,791 operations, against 34,619 of the previous year, or an increase of 9,172. The number
of successful cases returned was 42,183, against 33,731 in 1878-79, and the percentage of
success excluding the unknown cases was said to be 97.301. The average number of operations
performed by each vaccinator was 1,457.76, against 1,153.73 of the preceding year, and the
average cost of each successful case was Re. 0-2-1, against, Re. 0-2-9 in the previous year.
It is reported that the vaccinators worked in a systematic manner, proceeding from village
to village and vaccinating all the unprotected children they could find. Some difficulty
was experienced in those places where vaccination was introduced for the first time. The
character of vaccination is stated to have been high class.
Inspection by Deputy Superintendent.—The Deputy Superintendent. travelled over
1,199 miles and inspected 17,985 cases, of which 17,257 were found successful and 509
unsuccessful, excluding 219 cases seen by him between the first and fourth day. Every case is
said to have been minutely examined and compared with the register. Some of the parents
complained of their children having caught small-pox after vaccination, but it was found