Proceedings of the Hon'ble the Lieutenant-Governor of the Punjab in the Home (Medical and Sanitary)
Department, No. 707 S., dated 30th July 1900.
READ—
The Report on Vaccination in the Punjab for the year 1899-1900, by Lieutenant-Colonel
C. J. BAMBER, I. M. S., Sanitary Commissioner, Punjab.
REMARKS.—The Report was due in the Civil Secretariat on the 1st July.
It was received on the 4th idem.
Paragraphs 3 and 4.
2. The strength of the Vaccination Establishment remained the same as
in the year 1898-99. There was a small decrease
in expenditure amounting to Rs. 121 only. The
average cost of each successful case was one anna and eleven pies as against two
annas and two pies in 1898-99, and also two annas and two pies for the tri-
ennial period 1896-97 to 1898-99.
Paragraphs 5 and 8.
*
Staff.
District
Special
Cantonment
Increase in
number of
operations.
68,618
13,077
1,829
Increase in
percentage of
successful
results.
0.13
...
201
†
Staff.
District
Cantonment
Dispensary
Increase
in number
of opera-
tions.
17,697
2,230
72
Increase in
percentage
of successful
results.
3.39
2.48
20.30
3. In the District, Special and Cantonment Staffs there was an increase
in primary operations as compared
with the year 1898-99, with an increase
of percentage of successful results as
noted on the margin.* There was a
falling-off of 2.28 in the percentage of
successful cases in the work of the Special
Staff. In the Dispensary Staff there was
a decrease of 544 in the number of
operations performed and of 19.02 in the percentage of successful results. In the
matter of re-vaccinations there was also
improvement† in the District, Canton-
ment and Dispensary Staffs. In the Spe-
cial Staff the number of re-vaccinations
fell off by 773. but the percentage of suc¬
cessful operations increased by 5.55. The
small amount of work performed of late years by the Dispensary Staff has elsewhere
been explained letter to Government of India, Home Department, No. 69 S., dated
the 31st April 1900) to be due to the fact that Medical Officers in charge of dis-
pensaries are now only permitted to vaccinate those who may attend at the dis-
pensary for the purpose. Thus the number of operations depends entirely on the
number of patients presenting themselves, and this number tends to decline as people
gain greater confidence in the itinerant vaccinators, who do their work better than
was formerly the case. It nevertheless appears to the Lieutenant-Governor that
the disproportion in the falling-off of 19.02 in the successful results in primary
vaccinations and the increase of 20.30 in re-vaccinations points to the supposition
that the primary operations were not always carefully performed, and seems to lend
colour to the statement of paragraph 8 of the Report that persons “do not care to
perform work for which they are not paid." On the whole, however, vaccination
was carried on with energy as indicated by the fact that there was an increase on
the previous year of 82,980 primary vaccinations, and 19,226 re-vaccinations, the
total number of operations, viz., 943,074, being also the largest number performed
in recent years. The Lieutenant-Governor is glad to observe that this improve-
ment is said to have been brought about by more careful attention to the
system of Vaccinators working in bodies introduced by Brigade-Surgeon Lieu-
tenant-Colonel W. A. C. Roe in 1896.
Paragraphs 6 and 7.
‡ Hissar, Delhi, Kángra, Mooltan,
Jhang, Shahpur, Ráwalpindi and Dera
Ismail Khan.
4. As usual, the bulk of the work was done by the District Staff. The
increase in the percentages of results, especially in
re-vaccinations referred to above, indicates that the
work was satisfactorily performed. The increase in primary and re-vaccinations
in the districts named on the margin, ‡ amounting
to over 5,000 in the case of each district, was
specially satisfactory. The very large increase
of 31,959 in the Hissar District was due to the famine, special facility