METROPOLITAN CIRCLES.
27
In places which were vaccinated for the first time, there was a good deal of opposition
at first, such as Jonye and its surrounding villages in thana Chunditollah, the khas
villages in thana Culna and thana Montessur in the Burdwan district. In Jonye the
vaccinators succeeded after three months; and in Montessur the Brahmin vaccinators worked
on the prejudices of the sudra zemindar by laying huttya, and thereby bringing Baboo
Parbuttychurn Roy round, to whom all the neighbouring villages looked up.
Instruction of
inoculators.
16. Instruction of inoculators.—I am glad to be able to report that something has
been done to further this cause. As mentioned in last year's report, there are on the staff
of the Metropolitan vaccine establishment 18 vaccinators who formerly practised inoculation.
Besides these, we have had the following accessions to their number. One Nilcomul Acherjee,
inoculator of Khurdah, came to my office and requested permission for himself and two
sons to practise vaccination with a view to retain his old clients. Their knowledge and
ability were thoroughly tested, and being found pretty satisfactory, they were permitted to
vaccinate under the immediate supervision of head vaccinator Kadarnath Ghose, who
worked in thana Newabgunge. I inspected their work, and remarked it was pretty good.
The inoculators told me they would not take service, but learn the work and then practise
on their own account. I said that was exactly the intention of Govemment, and they
seemed very much pleased. But they were soon disappointed. They vaccinated among
their old clients, and then demanded their usual fee, which the people refused point blank,
saying they could have got their children vaccinated for nothing by Govemment vaccinators,
and why should they pay them. This suggests a serious reflection, viz. how far we are
acting rightly in giving gratuitious vaccination, and thereby training the people to wrong
notions and ideas. Another inoculator—Konuck Chunder Chuckerbutty—was wiser than
Nilcomul, and accepted service. He has learnt the work thoroughly, and become a good
vaccinator. At the end of the season he was granted a certificate, and his services were
dispensed with in order to enable him to practise vaccination on his own account and charge
his usual fees. He has since been vaccinating in small-pox infected places, and he complains
that the people are not willing to pay him any fees. A third inoculator was entertained
as an apprentice. Deputy Superintendent Ramsoonder Ghose, while inspecting in thana
Shatkhira, came across a gang of ex-inoculators who were practising vaccination on their own
account, but as they were not properly trained he induced them to work under the
supervision of our departmental men. So long as the baboo was with the vaccinators,
the gang remained with our men, but the moment he turned his back they went away
and took to irregular and independent practice. Six of them, however, have since
returned, and are undergoing a course of instruction by the deputy superintendent of
the 1st Metropolitan circle. As regards fee, I understand the Shatkhira ex-inoculators
found no difficulty in getting their dues from the people. Inoculators are impatient of
control, and quite averse to supervision. An inoculator came to me from the Hooghly
district and wanted employment. He was told first to learn the work; he said, " no," and went
away. I am afraid many ex-inoculators are doing incalculable harm by practising spurious
vaccination, and thereby bringing it into disfavour and discredit. This was found to be
the case in thana Kotulpore (Burdwan), and thana Diamond Harbour in the previous
season. Head vaccinator Hem Chunder Chuckerbutty and his gang, who were deputed
to Bankoora this year to stamp out small-pox, have reported to this office that the
ex-inoculators of that district were vaccinating large numbers, but they were no vaccin-
ations at all. He reported the matter to the Magistrate, who said he could not do anything, as
the men had been certified to by the civil medical officer. Civil surgeons should be very
careful in granting certificates, and the certificates should be in both English and Bengali, so
that the villagers might be able to read them and understand their meaning or purport. They
should further not be transferable, otherwise they will be handed from father to son, or to
any other person who may not have the necessary qualifications of a vaccinator.
Small-pox.
19. Reports of small-pox.—Nineteen reports of the outbreaks of small-pox have been
received from the 1st April 1873 to 31st March 1874. In four the disease was found to be
chicken-pox, and in 15 small-pox. In the 15 outbreaks of small-pox reported, 20
villages were affected, and 223 persons were ascertained to have been attacked : of these 49
died and 174 recovered. In all of the 20 villages affected, vaccinations were performed
round the infected persons, and the spread of the disease was arrested. Seven of the villages
were protected wholly or partially by vaccination and 13 by inoculation. In two of the
15 reports of small-pox received the disease was traced to the practice of inoculation, in seven
cases to contact with small-pox, and in six cases the origin of the disease could not be
discovered.
Of the 15 outbreaks of small-pox reported, eight occurred in the district of Burdwan,
affecting two villages in thana Raneegunge, two in thana Aousgram, one in thana
Cutwa, two in thana Culna, two in thana Montessur, and one in thana Munglecote. Six
outbreaks took place in the district of 24-Pergunnahs, affecting two villages in thana
Newabgunge, one in thana Alipore, one in thana Dum-Dum, and five in thanas
Tababeriah, Shatkhira, and Basseerhat, where inoculation, though rendered penal by law,