REPORT ON VACCINATION IN THE PROVINCE OF ASSAM FOR THE
YEAR 1884-85.
Plan of the annual report.
1. The report is prepared in accordance with the plan adopted in previous years.
First, a series of tables is introduced showing the distribution,
expenditure, and general results; second, a review of the district
operations; third, the general provincial statistics of the year. To these are added
appendices of useful information and current topics of interest.
Sources of the seasonal supply of lymph.
English lymph.
Quality variable.
2. The supply of lymph was, in the first instance, obtained from England on a
general indent through the Sanitary Commissioner with the
Government of India. 200 tubes were required, but only
100 were sanctioned, owing to the small stock available, compared with the demand from
India at large. The lymph arrived on the 23rd September
1884, and was immediately distributed to the several Civil
Surgeons. This selected pure lymph is, of course, intended only to begin vaccination; and
for this purpose special care should be taken to use it on particularly healthy infants, of
four to eight months, to secure a properly developed and uninjured natural vesicle. The
reports are by no means uniform as to the quality of this
year's supply. From some districts it is said to have been
very good, in others fair, and in others a failure. Its quality cannot be relied upon as
uniform throughout, notwithstanding every care in its collection in England; but I cannot
help thinking that the results are mostly proportionate to the care with which the first
operations are performed and watched. Failure follows the matter being left to careless
subordinates. In each district review will be found in detail the source of the supply,
and its success or failure.
Indian lymph.
3. Subsequently, each Civil Surgeon received, either by private communication or
on periodical issue, lymph tubes from the Sanitary Commis-
sioners of Bengal, the North-West Provinces, and Superin-
tendents of Vaccination at Calcutta, Dacca, Darjeeling, Almorah, &c., and, generally
speaking, the supply was reliable. In no particular of their duty is the value of a trained
vaccinator so marked as in this point of maintaining a good and ample supply of lymph.
In Assam the great majority of the operators have to be hastily trained and insufficiently
inspected, with the result that they are either ignorant of the characteristics of true
lymph or careless as to its quality. The narrative of Mr. McNaught's inspection,
published in Appendix B, is, I fear, too common an example of what goes on in the
Province generally.
TABLE No. I.
Showing the agency employed in each district of the Province during the past two years.
Districts.
Goálpar ..................
kamrup .....................
Nowgong ..................
Darrang .....................
Sibságar .....................
Lakhimpur ..................
Nagá Hills ..................
Khási„ ...........................
Gáro „ ...........................
Sylhet ...........................
Cachar ........................
Total ............
1883-84.
Civil Surgeons.
1
1
1
1
2
2
1
1
1
1
1
13
Assistant-Surgeons.
1
..
.. 1
1
..
..
..
..
..
..
3
Native Inspectors
1
1
..
..
.. ..
.. ..
.. 2
..
4
Hospital-Assistants.
4
3
1
1
2
2
1
3
.. 5 3
25
Provincial vaccina-
tors
5
4
3
4
3 4
1
2
6
10
3
45
Local Fund vaccina-
tors.
2
.. 2
1
1
3
..
..
.. 11
..
20
Municipal vaccina-
tors.
1
1
..
.. 2
..
.. ..
.. 1
1
6
Compounders.
..
..
.. ..
..
.. 1
..
.. 2
..
3
Apprentices.
..
..
..
..
..
..
..
.. 1*
..
..
10
Ex-inoculators or li-
censed vaccinators
9
35
..
.. 3
..
.. .. 1
3
..
51
Total.
24
45
7
3
14
11
4
6
8
35
8
170
1884-85
Civil Surgeons.
1
1
1
1
2
1
1 1
1
1
1
12
Assistant-Surgeons
..
.. 1
..
..
..
..
..
..
..
..
1
Native Inspectors.
1
1
1
..
..
..
..
..
.. 2
..
5
Hospital Assistants
3
2 2
2
4
1
2
3
1
7
1
28
Provincial vaccina-
tors
1
4
3
4
3
4
1 3
6
10
3
42
Local Fund vaccina-
tors
5
3
6
6
4
3
1 ..
.. 9
3
40
Municipal vaccina-
tors
1
1
..
..
2
1
..
.. ..
2
1
8
Compounders.
..
..
..
..
..
.. 1
..
.. 3
1
5
Apprentices.
..
..
..
..
..
..
..
.. 1*
1
..
2*
Ex-inoculators
or li-
censed vaccinators
8
18
..
..
..
.. ..
.. .. 1
..
27
Total.
20
80
14
13
15
10
6
7
8
36
10
169
* The apprentice employed in the Gáro Hills is not included in the total, as his work was merely nominal.
B