34
local authorities to watch the residence of persons arriving from infected
areas and to report at once any mortality of rats or any human case of
plague '. Too often in the past no report has been made until an oat-
break has made such progress that concealment was no longer possible.
To prevent similar occurrences in the future, all members of the local
bodies and of their health staffs must recognize it as one of their most
important duties to report to the proper authority all cases of infection
disease immediately they come to their notice, and to be constantly on
the alert for an outbreak of plague, especially at the season when such
outbreaks are likely to occur. The local health authority will then be
in a position to attack the sources of infection with a concentrated
health staff before the outbreak gets beyond control. A delay of twenty-
four hours may be a matter of life and death to hundreds of people
whose safety is committed to their charge. It is a matter in which
every member of the community can help.
44. (3) Propaganda.—The efforts of a preventive staff, however, will
be neutralized if they are thwarted by uninformed and unenlightened
public opinion. It is incumbent on the members and staff of local
bodies to remove this obstacle to the public well-being. Money is not
needed for the purpose. It is merely a matter of local exertion. In
particular through the medium of public lectures, ward and firka com-
mittees, schools, social, welfare associations, and any other organisation
that may exist, popular attention should be drawn (a] to the foci of
infection and the channels by which it is conveyed, (b] to the danger of
rats and grain transport, and the value of rendering houses, shops and
godowns rat-free, (cj tc the dangers of dirt and garbage, and the need
for periodical cleaning up of all buildings and their surroundings, and
to the advantages of healthy housing, (d} to the powers given to villagers
under Kegulation No. 10 to protect themselves by boycotting strangers
and (e) to the protection afforded by inoculation especially to the residents
of localities susceptible to epidemics.
45. The importance of co-ordination in these matters is plain. No
town or taluk or even district can be regarded as a self-contained unit of
administration. In the absence of any accurate history of previous out-
breaks of their genesis and ramification it is impossible for a Collector
to devote to plague prevention the attention it deserves, and responsibi-
lity must devolve more and more 011 local bodies. The appointment of
district health officers, and the creation of a permanent health staff for
each district under the control of the president, district board, should
largely solve the problem of co-ordination. A district health board, by
pooling resources and economizing staff, should be able to effect close
co-operation between the local bodies of a district, and, if need be, bet-
ween the local bodies of adjoining districts, and to concentrate
preventive effort when and where concentration is required.
46. Even in districts and municipalities not equipped with health
officers, the efforts of the preventive staff can be reinforced by the
formation of health committees of district, taluk and union boards, and
in municipalities by ward committees which -can help in investigation
and do something towards educating public opinion.
47. Where local hospitals and dispensaries exist, the medical officers
in charge must assist the district health committees in their preventive
campaigns, especially in rat destruction, evacuation and inoculation.