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APPENDIX A.
Vaccination in Tea-Gardens.
Dr.
*
*
* has the medical charge of several tea-gardens in this district, and I have
received a letter from him, under date the 7th May, explaining why so little vaccination has been
performed in his gardens during the past season. He states that the Civil Surgeon has a staff of
vaccinators, and that these men are sent to some gardens and not to others; and Dr. * * * further
complains of the non-receipt of vaccine lymph, and desires to know if he should undertake the
responsibility of vaccination work in all gardens of which he is in medical charge.
2. Dr. * * * is wrong in thinking that Government supply vaccinators for tea-gardens. The
vaccinators employed under the Civil Surgeon are intended for the general public, and not for tea-
gardens. By the rules framed by the Chief Commissioner under Act I. of 1882, the duty of seeing
that all children and other unprotected persons in gardens are properly vaccinated rests with the
manager of the garden. Each garden must employ its own Native Doctor, or make its own arrange-
ments. All that the medical officer of a garden can expect is a supply of lymph, and for this he
should indent early in the season, in fact, before the vaccination season begins, say, in September;
the Civil Surgeon will then send the lymph as early as possible, according to the indents he receives
and the requirements of each garden.
3. Each Government vaccinator has a circle allotted to him; if a garden for any special reason
requires outside aid, application should be made to the Civil Surgeon, and he will endeavour to cause
the vaccinator of the circle in which the garden is situated to tender his services to the manager;
but this will not relieve the management of the duty of causing vaccination to be performed thorough-
ly and efficiently.
4. The Civil Surgeon is the Superintendent of Vaccination for the whole district, including
gardens, and it is his duty to see that vaccination in gardens is being performed, and to inspect
cases; but in gardens where there is a European Medical Officer, the Civil Surgeon would naturally
leave the supervision of the vaccinators to that officer, and look to him for a report of the work done.
5. The best plan would be for Dr. * * * to send in about September a list of gardens under
his care, and at the same time an indent for the lymph he may need for those gardens; at the close
of the vaccination season the necessary forms will be sent to him, and he will be asked to fill them up
for the gardens on his list, and to send the returns to the Deputy-Commissioner or direct to the Civil
Surgeon with any explanatory remarks he may think necessary.
6. Similarly, managers of gardens which do not employ the services of a European Medical
Officer should, in September, indent direct on the Civil Surgeon for lymph, and at the end of the
season apply for and obtain printed forms, which they should fill in and forward to the Civil Surgeon.
With few exceptions, every garden has a Native Doctor, and with a proper supply of lymph, there
should be no difficulty in carrying out the requirements of the law in regard to Garden Vaccination.
* * *
Deputy Commissioner.
Office of the Deputy-Surgeon-General, Eastern Frontier District,
and Sanitary Commissioner of Assam.
Dated Shillong, the 28th May 1888.
CIRCULAR MEMO. No. S—5.
THE above Circular has been approved by the Chief Commissioner, and
copies are herewith
forwarded for distribution to Tea-garden Managers in your district.
A. ETESON, M.D.,
Deputy-Surgeon- General.
THE CIVIL SURGEON,
A. S. Press (M. & R. ) No. 33—280—8-9-88.