4
vaccinator is interfered with in his work, he cannot expect any assistance from
the Local Board. Instances have occurred where equipment has been damaged,
and the vaccinator himself has been assaulted ; whilst in one extreme case
in Bellary district there was even an attempt at murder by an enraged parent.
In view of these facts, it is very desirable that vaccination should be declared
compulsory throughout the whole Presidency. Every District Health Officer,
in whose district non-compulsory areas exist, has urged that the change is
essential. In several districts, e.g., North Arcot, Tanjore, Madras and Trichinopoly,
vaccination is already compulsory, and there is no reason why it should be
otherwise in other parts of the Presidency.
(b) Declaration of compulsory vaccination is, however, not a sufficient
remedy unless the law is enforced. Wholesale prosecution of defaulters is
admittedly unwise ; but cognizance of breach of the law is occasionally essential,
if the law is to be obeyed. It is therefore to be regretted that Presidents of Local
Boards and Chairmen of Municipal Councils, in whom the powers of prosecution
are vested, are generally unwilling to exercise them. For instance, the President
of a Taluk Board in Tanjore district refused to sanction prosecution even in
a single case, although a large number of defaulters was reported to him ; while it
also appears that he attempted, happily without success, to induce the other
Presidents to follow his example. Unless local bodies realize that no law is self-
enforcing, and that a few selected prosecutions are necessary, the declaration of
compulsory vaccination will be of little avail.
(i) Another regrettable feature is the attempt of some union boards to
disown the statutory obligations imposed on them under the Local Boards Act
and the rules framed thereunder. In other cases these obligations are carried
out in a very unsatisfactory manner. The Muthupet Union Board in Tanjore
district, for example, has passed a resolution refusing to take up the administration
of vaccination.
(ii) Many union boards fail entirely to maintain unprotected lists. One
indeed has passed a resolution to the effect that house-to-house vaccination should
be done without fees, a procedure discountenanced in the rules issued under
Sections 137 and 200 of the Madras Local Boards Act, 1920.
(iii) Several of the presidents of union boards in Nellore district have
refused to have vaccination notices served.
The Government is requested to take due notice of such instances, and insist
on the union boards and their presidents carrying out the obligations vested in
them by statute.
(c) It has become a perennial complaint of the District Health staffs that
many village headmen neglect the duties assigned to them in G.O. No. 832-P.H.,
dated 23rd May 1923, regarding the proper maintenance of unprotected lists, and
the assembling of children in suitable centres at the time of the vaccinators' and
the Health Inspectors' visits. As the co-operation of the village headmen is
essential for the proper conduct of vaccination in rural areas, the attention of all
Collectors may be once more drawn to the difficulties experienced by the subordi-
nate vaccination staff.
(d) Another factor which retards vaccination work is the frequent failure of
local officers to report outbreaks of small-pox, whilst more frequently reports are
inordinately delayed. One or two of the worst examples may be quoted. In the
Union of Melvisharam in North Arcot district, an outbreak of small-pox commenced
in December 1924, causing over 150 attacks and 25 deaths, but not a single report
was received from the revenue authorities up to the date of the submission
of the District Health Officer's Annual Report on 25th May 1925. In the village
of Karnatham in Vriddhachalam taluk, South Arcot district, the District Health
Officer at his inspection found 87 attacks and 7 deaths due to small-pox during
the previous two months, while none of the cases was reported by the village
headman, though he had registered 3 small-pox deaths in the death register.
These instances could be multiplied many times.
It has been constantly emphasized in the Annual Reports of the Public
Health Department that prompt notification of infectious disease is of the greatest
importance in its prevention and control. Failure to submit reports, or delayed