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During the year the Four tahsíls of Gurdáspur, Batála, Shakargarh and
Pathánkot were overhauled by the vaccination establishment. Although the
work of vaccination cannot be said to be altogether popular, no opposition of a
serious nature was raised, the attitude of the people, especially in the towns of
Batála and Fatahgarh, having been more apathetic than antagonistic.
The Civil Surgeon reports very unfavorably on the amount of help
given to the vaccinators from members of Municipal Committees. In the town
of Batála, with the exception of Rái Bhág Singh, the members took neither
interest nor gave any assistance to the staff. In Fatahgarh great difficulty was
experienced in vaccination. The Civil Surgeon, however, in his tour of
inspection has impressed on the members the great necessity of the operation,
and he hopes to receive more hearty assistance next vaccinating season.
The Deputy Commissioner, Lieutenant-Colonel A. F. P. Harcourt,
states—
"Dr. Thomson has taken great interest in vaccination, and has ever been on the
move from place to place seeing that his subordinates were doing their duty. As a rule the
people have aided the vaccinators, but here and there some opposition or rather passive
resistance has been evinced. There was an excuse for this in Fatahgarh, as some few years
ago, as the Civil Surgeon informed me, vaccination was not properly carried on, and
remembering this the people dreaded the visits of the vaccine staff, and the members of the
Municipal Committee would give no aid. On the whole, however, it may be said that
vaccination in this district has been a success, and very much of this must be attributed to
the care and energy of Dr. Thomson in working out details and in the supervision of his
subordinates."
The Commissioner, Amritsar division, Colonel McMahon, speaks highly
of him also, and writes—
" The operations appear to have been very successful, and to reflect great credit on
the Civil Surgeon, Dr. Thomson. He has worked hard, and has carefully superintended the
operations."
I quite endorse the above remarks. During my inspection of this district
I was much struck with the plan followed by Dr. Thomson, of vaccinating in
schools and jails. This is a very wise precaution, and I think the practice might
be more generally adopted by all Civil Surgeons with much advantage. I
addressed the Local Government separately on this subject in No. 102/828 dated 24th
March 1884, and suggested that the Inspector-General of Prisons, Punjab, be
directed to issue instructions to all Civil Surgeons to the effect that the practice be
more generally adopted than heretofore.
SIALKOT.
The vaccination establishment entertained, and the annual cost thereof,
during the years 1882-83 and 1883-84 are as below :—
Establishment
Native supervisor ... ... ...
1st class vaccinators ... ... ...
2nd „
„ ... ... ...
3rd „
„ ... ... ...
Total ...
1882-83
Number
1
2
3
9
15
Annual
cost
Rs.
480
360
432
1,080
2,352
1883-84
Number
1
2
3
9
15
Annual
cost
Rs.
480
360
432
1,080
2,352
Total vaccinations (including primary and re-vaccina-
tions) ... ... ...
Successful cases
...
...
...
Percentage of successful cases ... ...
Persons successfully vaccinated per 1,000 of population
Average number vaccinated by each vaccinator ...
Cost of each successful case
...
...
...
1882-83
36,528
36,049
98.76
35.60
2,609.14
Re. 0-1-1
1883-84
43,960
43,532
99.11
43.02
3,140.00
0-1-1
The work performed
by the above establish-
ment during the two years
is shown in the margin.