II
would be made to meet the Punjab requirements. The details of the scheme
were then worked out and the Government of India were addressed regarding
it on the 30th June 1902. The administrative arrangements necessary for the
operations necessitated much thought and labour and involved large expenditure,
but the benefits which would follow success induced the Lieutenant-Governor to
proceed with his scheme. The Government of India approved of it and agreed
to assist the Punjab Government in meeting the necessary expenditure and in
supplying the necessary Medical staff
23. The officers of the Indian Medical Service who had been placed
at the disposal of the Punjab Government for inoculation took up their duties
in the beginning of September and in, that month a considerable number of opera-
tions were performed in a few districts, viz., Ambala, Hoshiárpur, Jullundur and
Gurdáspur. The Medical men who were especially engaged in England for
the scheme did not arrive in the Punjab till the middle and end of September,
and it was arranged that they should not go out into the districts till
October, the intervening time baing spent in instructing them as to their duties
and providing them with the equipmsnt and staff required by them. There was
some delay in getting them into full working order as soon as was desired.
They were at first unable to move freely out on tour because tents were not
available, for, though tents had been ordered in good time, the demand
created by the Delhi Darbár caused delay in their delivery.
Moreover,
the arrangements at the Jullundur Disinfection Depot, which was utilised
as a centre for issuing all their requirements to inoculating officers, did
not work well to start with. There was delay in the issue of registers and forms
without which inoculations could not proceed, and appliances, fluid, camp
furniture, &c., in some cases failed to reach promptly the officers for whom they
were intended. Further, the Plague Research Laboratory at Bombay, with which
arrangements for the supply of fluid and instruments had been made, failed to
supply the full quantity which the Punjab Government understood would be
forthcoming. At the end of August the Punjab Government had in hand less than
50,000 doses of fluid, and it had been understood that this stock would be supple-
mented by the daily receipt of 70,000 doses from the Laboratory. The Labora-
tory, however, was able to supply only 160,091 doses from the 28th of September,
when supplies commenced, to the 29th October, chiefly towards the end of
October. The short supply of fluid crippled the operations. It became neces-
sary to instruct Civil Officers, who had been put on special duty to " preach"
inoculation and otherwise assist in the operations, that efforts to induce the
people to come forward for inoculation should be restrained till more fluid was
available. In many cases inoculating officers had not sufficient instruments
or fluid with which to operate on all those who actually did present themselves.
Finally, the Lieutenant. Governor regrets to have to place on record the
fact that a certain number of the 37 doctors sent out from England for
the operation proved entirely unfit for the work. One was returned from the
Punjab on the day after he reached the Province ; 3 others were suspended
about the middle of October, and the services of these were dispensed
with ; and another had to be released from his engagement in February 1903.
The majority of the Medical men engaged in England gave satisfaction in
every way, but it is unfortunate that the system under which selections were
made rendered it possible to admit such men as those who proved unsatisfactory,
and whose character and conduct soon became so notorious that they were not
only useless as inoculating officers, but also a hindrance to the success of the
operations in the districts to which they were posted.
24. In the districts in which a considerable number of inoculations was
done in September the operations were in fair working order in October, but
though the available supply of fluid was husbanded by confining operations as
much as possible to districts in which there was most demand for inoculation, it
was not possible during the whole period of the operations to make anything
approaching a full use of the whole staff. In several districts, such as Gurdás-
pur, Siálkot, Lahore, Gujránwála and Gujrát, the operations did not commence