93
In Siálkot City 713 houses, nearly all of them infected, were chemically disinfected.
Only 24 villages were completely disinfected by chemical means ; details are shown
in the following table ; in addition a few houses were disinfected in some villages at the
the request of their owners :—
Table showing the number of villages and houses disinfected in the Siâlkot District.
Sialkot
Zatarwál
Pasrúr
Daska
Raya
Tahsíls
•••
•••
• ••
...
• «•
•
•••
»«o
• ••
...
...
•••
••*
• •»
•••
•••
...
,.,
...
Total
Villages
disinfected.
2
8
7
4
3
24
Houses disin-
fected.
16
740
1,180
143
263
2,342
The results of chemical disinfection when complete were very satisfactory.
Dr. Jones mentions some villages in which plague was completely stopped by it, and states
that it was very rare for a death to occur in any town that had been disinfected.
Captain Hugo, on the other hand, states that though on the whole chemical disinfec-
tion was beneficial in Siálkot City, several disinfected houses again became infected. He
attributes this chiefly to the fact that owing to the opposition on the part of the people
personal effects were not disinfected.
Whenever employed chemical disinfection was carried out in the manner prescribed
in the memorandum on disinfection, and except in one village, where the people asked to be
allowed to do their own disinfection, it was performed by a trained gang. In this village—
Jandiála—disinfectant.s and appliances were supplied, and one trained coolie was
employed with any five villagers, the work being done under the supervision of a Hospital
Assistant. The result in this instance was not very satisfactory. Both the Deputy
Commissioner and the Plague Medical Officer note that chemical disinfection is unpopular
in the district.
The former writes :—
"Whether the rooted prejudice of the people against the prescribed disinfectant
which they say is poison, or against disinfectors whom they suspect of searching for their
buried treasure, will ever disappear it is impossible to say."
And he adds:-
" The only remaining traces of animus in people's minds against plague officials are
directed against disinfectors."
Dr. Jones mentions that in some places the disinfection has been threatened and
hustled off, though requests for disinfection had been received from these villages. In one
village, Depoke in the Zafarwál Tahsíl, there was a disturbance owing to one section of
the village continuing disinfection and the other opposing it : the latter prevailing.
In the city of Siálkot, however, chemical disinfection of houses was popular except in
the early stage of the outbreak, the people understanding its effects* and appreciat-
ing its benefits. Some people even paid for disinfection by official agency ; others bought
the materials and carried out the disinfection of their houses themselves.
Chemical disinfection of personal effects was very rarely accepted, though a few
persons in Siálkot City had their effects disinfected with phenyle.
In some villages disinfection of rooms by desiccation or by making holes in the
Popular methods.
roofs was practised with good results.
Inoculation,
(/) The total number pi inoculations performed in the Siálkot District during the year
under report was 17,603, of which 1,047 were
performed in the city and 16,556 in the rest
.of the district Among the persons inoculated in the city were many who had come from
neighbouring villages, and with these exceptions none of the inhabitants of villages in the
Siálkot Tahsíl were inoculated.