Proceedings of the Hon'ble the Lieutenant-Governor of the Punjab, in the Home (Medical and Sanitary)
Department, No. 693 S., dated Simla, the 19th of August 1896.
READ—
The Sanitary Commissioner' s Report on Vaccination in the Punjab for the year 1895-96.
REMARKS.—The Report and Review were due with the Government of
India on the 1st of August. They have been delayed in submission because the
Report was not received in the Secretariat till the 14th of July owing to the
illness of Brigade-Surgeon-Lieutenant-Colonel W. A. C. Roe in June.
Home Department Resolution No.28/1579-95, dated 15th
July 1887.
Punjab Government Circular No.11/1409, dated 22nd
October 1888.
Under the orders contained in
the papers quoted on the margin, the
Report should have dealt with the
three years of the last triennial period.
This apparently has been over-
looked.
Paragraphs 3 and 4 and Statement
No. II.
2. In column 7 of Statement No. II the total cost of Divisional Inspec-
tors and Native Supervisors has been lumped at
Rs. 22,971-12-1. The details are apparently,
Inspectors Rs. 7,296, Supervisors Rs. 15,675-12-1. It would have been useful
if detailed items had been given under each head. The Sanitary Commissioner's
office seems to have closely followed the statement prescribed by the Govern-
ment of India which, though suited to other provinces, is not full enough for
the Punjab in which there is a class of employé, viz. Divisional Inspectors,
unknown in the other provinces. The necessary addition to the statement can
easily be made without any actual departure from the prescribed form.
Paragraphs 2, 9, 10, 12, 13, 14, and
Appendix D, page xxxix.
3. Except in the Lahore Division, Divisional Inspectors of Vaccination
were employed throughout the Province during
1895-96, and the Lieutenant-Governor has recently
sanctioned their retention for another year beyond the period for which sanction
has already been accorded. Pending the consideration of certain questions con-
nected with the organisation of the Sanitary Department, it is at present inadvis-
able to make these appointments permanent. The services of the Inspector, who
during the preceding year was employed in the Lahore Division, were dispensed
with in 1895-96, but the number of Inspectors remained constant by the creation
of a fresh appointment for Hoshiárpur and Kángra. In paragraphs 9 and 10 the
Sanitary Commissioner gives strong reasons for increasing the efficiency of the
supervising staff and improving the method of working, in order to prevent waste
of time and the submission of false returns on the part of vaccinators. Para-
graphs 12 and 14 show that many Civil Surgeons are unable to do as much in
this matter as is necessary and that they require help. The inspection work
performed by Civil Surgeons is, on the whole, as much as can be expected from
them, and is satisfactory, but Statement V shows that if the Sanitary Commis-
sioner's remark in paragraph 14 is to be accepted that ' the secret of success
in vaccination work depends on supervision,' Native Supervisors and Inspecting
Officers other than Civil Surgeons must chiefly be depended on to check the work
of vaccinators. The Sanitary Commissioner reports, in paragraph 13, that the
work of the six Divisional Inspectors has been excellent, and the statement at
Appendix D on page xxxix shows what they have done. Their utility there-
fore may be accepted as established, and in addition to work which they do in the
Vaccination Department, they afford the greatest help to the Sanitary Depart-
meat by checking registers of births and deaths. The Sanitary Commissioner's
recommendation (in. paragraph 14) therefore, that a Divisional Inspector be
appointed in every Division, is one that commends itself for approval. It is to be
regretted that the Commissioner of Lahore has not as yet seen his way to having
an Inspector for his Division, where, in some ways, such an Inspector is most
required. It is true that in three of the districts of the Division (see Statement
V) The percentage of inspections performed does not, even without the help of a
Divisional Inspector, compare unfavourably with the average of inspections for