( 2 )
all Government vaccinators attached to dispensaries having been dispensed
with during the past year, and to the decrease in the number of ex-inocu¬
lators; but the falling-off was more than compensated for by the increase in
the number of operations performed by other vaccinators.
3. The total number of operations reported to have been successful in
1878-79 was 1,251,936, against 1,182,665 in 1877-78. Leaving out of con-
sideration the operations of which the result was not known, the percentages of
successful cases in primary vaccination in the two years were 98.29 and 98.04,
respectively. Excluding dispensary vaccination, the reported results of which
are not considered by the Surgeon-General to be trustworthy, the ratio of
successful cases in primary vaccinations was 98.49 per cent. in the past
year, against 97.81 per cent. in the year preceding. The proportion was higher
in 1878-79 than in the previous year in all, excepting the Calcutta, Metro-
politan, and Behar circles, and ranged from 99.68 per cent. in the Eastern
Bengal circle to 93.56 per cent. in the Ranchee circle, where it has been the
lowest for several years. In secondary vaccinations, the ratio of success was
46.89 per cent., against 72.06 per cent. in 1877-78. In dispensary vaccination,
94.97 per cent. of the primary, and 77.57 per cent. of the secondary operations
are reported to have been successful in 1878-79, against 93.77 per cent. and
84.29 per cent., respectively, in 1877-78.
4. Of the persons vaccinated during the past year, the age was
recorded of only 1,246,290, and of these 106,695, or 8.5 per cent., were
under one year and the rest above that age. The sex was registered of
1,265,428 persons, of whom 53.81 per cent. were males, and 46.18 per
cent. females. Of the 1,249,711 persons whose caste or religion was noted,
54.93 per cent. were Hindoos, 39.33 per cent. Mussulmans, .38 per cent.
Christians, and 5.35 per cent. "other castes." Compared with the results
of 1877-78, the proportions of males and females were nearly the same,
but there was a considerable increase in the proportion of Hindoos, and a
corresponding decrease in that of Mussulmans. There was also a slight
decrease in the proportion of infants under one year of age.
5. The total cost of vaccination during the past year was Rs. 1,17,988,
against Rs. 1,23,140 in 1877-78 and Rs. 1,18,731 in 1876-77. The amount
expended by Government was Rs. 1,05,517, against Rs. 1,09,577 in the previous
year. The proportion of the expenditure derived from municipal and other
local funds was Rs. 12,471, or only 10.5 per cent. of the total cost, against
11.01 per cent. in 1877-78.
The average cost of each successful case
was 1 anna and 6 pies, against 1 anna and 7 pies in the previous year.
It varied from 7 annas and 6 pies in Behar to only 9 pies in the Eastern
Bengal circle. In only one of the circles, viz. Behar, was the average cost
higher than in 1877-78. It was lower in all the other circles, except Darjeeling
and Orissa, in which it was the same as in the previous year. In dispensaries,
it rose from 10 pies in 1877-78 to 1 anna and 1 pie in 1878-79.
6. The average number of operations performed by each circle
vaccinator during the past year was 1,191, against 1,488 in 1877-78.
In the Eastern Bengal, Darjeeling, and Sonthal Pergunnahs circles, there
was a slight increase in 1878-79 in the amount of work done by each
vaccinator, and in the Orissa and Ranchee circles a slight decrease. In the
Behar circle the decrease was more than 22 per cent., and in the Calcutta circle
more than 37 per cent. In the Metropolitan circle, in which the decrease
was greatest, each vaccinator on an average did less than half the work per-
formed in 1877-78, but this was due in a great measure to the introduction of the
self-supporting system of vaccination. As in 1877-78 and 1876-77, the average
number of operations was lowest in the Behar circle, and the out-turn of work
in this circle since it came into existence has been so small, and so dispro-
portionate to its cost, that the Commissioner of Patna recently recommended the
abolition of the whole establishment. The opposition offered to vaccination
here appears, however, to be greater than in other circles, and as in this matter
the Beharis are less docile, and more obstinate than the Bengalis and
Ooryas, a great deal of tact and energy is required. The Lieutenant-Governor
has allowed the circle to remain for the present as it is, but if the results
continue to be as unsatisfactory as they have been, it will be a question
whether the present expensive establishment should not be done away with.