From the Commissioner, Hyderabad Assigned Districts, to the First Assistant
Resident, Hyderabad, (No. 1272).—Dated Oomraotee, 12th June 1874.
SIR,—I have the honor to forward the Vaccination Report for the
year 1873-74, with the following remarks.
2. In the absence of compulsory vaccination which, so long as fair pro-
gress is made, I should regret to see, Doctor Abbott is right in expecting the
fullest assistance from the District Staff, and through them, from the village
officers.
3. The use of indifferent lymph, and the non-arrival in proper time of
the supply from England, has been unfortunate.
4. The great increase in the number of verifications is satisfactory. Out.
of 2,176 villages in which operations were carried on, 1,563 were visited by
District Superintendents, who verified 18,094 cases out of a total of 27,511, or
about 66 per cent.
5. In his 7th para., Doctor Abbott alludes to the difficulties his depart-
ment has to contend with ; but with the cordial co-operation of the Civil Offi-
cers, these will gradually be overcome. In one district—Buldanah—30 village
officers were fined for throwing obstacles in the way of vaccination.
6. With reference to para. 11 of the report, I doubt the wisdom of the
arrangement by which vaccinators are not allowed to operate in towns where
there are Dispensaries, because the number of cases which are lost by this res-
triction of the vaccinators, who are obliged to work to show results, will not, in
my opinion, be made up by the Native Medical Officers in charge of Dispensa-
ries who are not so directly responsible.
7. Compared with the previous year, there was a decrease in 1873-74 in
successful vaccinations of 3,802, while there was an increase by 2,071 in unsuc-
cessful cases. This may be accounted for by want of vitality in the lymph
and by better supervision affording less opportunity to make false returns.
31 per cent. of the subjects operated on were under one year, against 17 per
cent. in 1872-73. The sexes were pretty evenly divided.
8. Mahomedans and, among Hindoos, Rajpoots are the most difficult to
persuade. In his 35th para., however, Doctor Abbott shews that here and there
the people are beginning to appreciate the object of vaccination : at Donapore,
in the Akolah District, the Putwaree had refused to allow his child to be vac-
cinated; but sixty other children were successfully operated on. In the hot
weather of 1873, epidemic small-pox broke out with considerable malignance :
the Putwarees child died, but the whole of the sixty children who were pro-
tected escaped. Consequently this season, when the vaccinator appeared in
the village, all the mothers crowded round him with their infants, and two
mothers, who happened to be absent, followed him with their infants for ten
miles to another village where he was vaccinating.
9. An interesting table, prepared by the Akolah Superintendent, is given
in the report, showing the protection afforded by vaccination in four villages in
which he was able to obtain accurate statistics. The total results are as fol-
lows :—
Vaccinated ... ... ... ... ...
Attacked by small-pox ... ... ... ...
Died ... ... ... ... ... ...
Unvaccinated children ... ... ... ...
Attacked ... ... ... ... ...
Died ... ... ... ... ... ...
259
6
None.
373
339
34