2
NOTES AND STATISTICS ON VACCINATION IN BURMA FOR THE YEAR 1909-10.
offered by the Civil Surgeons of these districts that the decrease was due to the
wide-spread prevalence of plague and cholera during the year must be accepted
as correct. The influence of the plague epidemic was felt in Upper Chindwin,
where there was a serious decrease in the number of operations for vaccination
caused by the belief entertained by the people in the truth of rumours emanating
from the Lower Chindwin District, to the effect that Government were spreading
plague by means of vaccination.
Magwe Division.—Thayetmyo District alone shows a decrease amounting to
1,388 cases. Pakôkku, on the other hand, shows an increase of 5,347 cases and
Magwe of 2,183. The decrease in Thayetmyo is attributable to rumours arising
in connection with the plague outbreak, and partly to the apathy of the people.
Meiktila Division.—Yamèthin District shows a decrease of 413 cases.
Myingyan declares an increase of 861.
In the Northern Shan States there was an increase of 2,203 cases, and in
the Chin Hills of 985. In the Southern Shan States there was a decrease of 2,857.
The serious instances of decrease in the number of operations performed in
the districts of Akyab, Kyaukpyu, Tavoy, Prome, Thayetmyo, Sagaing and Lower
Chindwin have all been enquired into, and except in the case of the three first-
named districts the pleas advanced by the Civil Surgeons are more or less
convincing. The large increases in the outturn of work in the Mandalay, Pakôkku,
Magwe, Katha and Thatôn Districts, and in the Northern Shan States are very
encouraging. Appreciable progress was also shown in the Henzada, Myaungmya,
Han hawaddy, Tharrawaddy, Sandoway and Myingyan Districts. However there
is still very great room for improvement in all the districts of the Pegu Division
excepting Prome, and in the Ma-ubin and Pyapôn Districts. In some of these
districts the number of primary operations performed appears almost ludicrous when
the outlay on Establishments is considered. The apathy of the people presents,
undoubtedly a serious obstacle to progress in popularizing the operation.
Statement
III.
4. Dispensary Vaccination.—The total number of persons vaccinated was
12,261, against 14,087 in 1908-09. The falling off was mainly among persons over
six years of age submitting to primary operation. The total decrease of success-
ful cases was 981. There was a decrease in successful operations in infants of
only ten and in children under six years of 91. In revaccinations there was an
increase of 261 operations and of 558 successful results. The percentage
successes were in primary operations 94.87 per cent. and in re-vaccinations 70.03
against 94.24 and 64.25 in the previous year, a definite improvement. The
decrease in operations performed in dispensaries was 1,826, the major share in
this decrease occurring in the Arakan Division (1,017). In the Pegu Division there
was an increase in the number of operations of 1,766. In the Irrawaddy Division
the decrease was 165, mainly at Bassein and Henzada, while Myaungmya and
Ma-ubin show an increase. Tenasserim Division shows a decrease of 137.
Mandalay Division an increase of 1 case. Sagaing Division an increase of 66
operations. Magwe Division a decrease of 731, affecting all districts. In
Meiktila Division the decrease was 357, all in Meiktila District In the Chin
Hills there was a decrease of 1,289, and in the Shan States a small increase.
The decrease in dispensary vaccination is to a large extent apparent rather
than real. Orders were issued to Civil Surgeons during the year to cease includ-
ing in the return of dispensary vaccination those operations performed by the
town vaccinators at the dispensaries when these institutions were used as vacci-
nation stations, and to include such operations in Table I. The increase on the
previous year in the operations shown in Table I is therefore to this extent
exaggerated.
The decrease in dispensary operations in Thayetmyo District is attributed by
the Civil Surgeon to lack of interest on the part of the medical subordinates in
charge of those institutions.
Statement V.
5. Verification.—A marked improvement in the work of verification of
operations is shown in the reports from the districts for the year under review.
The total number of primary operations verified was 215,730 as compared with
178,661 in the previous year, an increase of 37,069. The whole of this increase