( 3 )
vaccinated. The Darjeeling and Lohardaga districts head the list with 544.73
and 528.1 successful operations respectively, out of every thousand of the
available infant population. Malda follows far behind with 397.76 per mille.
At the bottom of the list we find Puri, Cuttack and the Chittagong Hill Tracts,
with less than 10 per mille. The Officiating Sanitary Commissioner says in
regard to those districts in which a falling off in the number of operations
has occurred :" Generally speaking, it is to be ascribed to neglect or indifference
on the part of the supervising officers. At all events, the excuse that is very
generally made of paucity of subjects, in consequence of previous activity,
cannot be accepted, for
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*
*
*
with the exception of Darjeel-
ling, the Sonthal Parganas, Dacca, Nadia, Faridpur, and Tippera, in no district
did the total number of vaccinations come up to the estimated number of
infants available for vaccination." A further consideration of the figures
gives ground for more general deductions, for it is clear that in districts
inhabited by non-Aryan people the objection to vaccination is not strong, for
with the exception of Malda the whole of the first eight districts answer to this
description, while the well-known hostility of the Uriyas to vaccination is
demonstrated by the fact that with the exception of Balasore all the districts of
this Division, which are almost entirely Hindu, are quite at the bottom of the list.
7. In regard to the number of vaccinations per mille of total population
during 1892-93, Bengal is far behind the other provinces of Upper India, for
while the provincial average of Bengal is 25.14 per mille, the figures for the
Punjab are 39.7, for Assam 39.18, and for the Central Provinces 36.49, the
North-Western Provinces lagging behind with 23.79. The provincial reports,
with the exception of that from the Central Provinces, do not afford statistics
for a calculation of this kind in regard to the proportion of successful vaccina-
tions per mille of infant population; but in the Central Provinces the ratio is
more than six times as high as in Bengal, being 790.25 per mille as against
125.49.
Work of the vaccinators.
8. During the three years under review each paid vaccinator performed
on an average 1,302 operations a year, and each
licensed vaccinator 637, as compared with 1,578
and 671 respectively during the previous triennial period. The reason for the
falling off in the average work of licensed vaccinators is said to be that there
are now a larger number of apprentices employed, who, not being able to work
as quickly as the more experienced men, reduce the general average. This may
partially explain the fact, but there must be some further cause; for an examin-
ation of the figures shows that, even if the same number of apprentices
had been employed in the earlier as in the later period, the number of opera-
tions remaining the same, the average work of each operator would still have
been greater in the first triennial period. Dr. Dyson suggests, with some show
of reason, that the difference between the average number of operations per-
formed by a Government vaccinator and by a licensed vaccinator is due to the
fact that the former operates free of charge in new areas where there is no
difficulty in getting subjects, and there is no doubt that the fee of 2 annas
charged by the licensed vaccinator is strongly resented by most of those from
whom it is demanded, since they consider it the insult of spoliation added to
the injury of unnecessary pain.
9. During the year 1892-93 an average of 1,172 operations was per-
formed by each paid vaccinator, which is 130 less than the triennial average.
The falling off is partially explained by the fact that the seven vaccinators
appointed for the Chitagong Hills Tracts, which were only brought under the
control of the Sanitary Commissioner in February 1893, were unable, owing to
the strong opposition they experienced, to attain to a higher average than 62
operations each. The average during the same year for each licensed vaccinator
was about half, viz., 615.
10. These figures compare very unfavourably with the statistics for other
provinces, for whereas in Bengal in 1892-93 the number of operations performed
by each vaccinator of whatever class averaged only 632, the figures elsewhere
were as follows:—Punjab 2,747, Central Provinces 1,837, North-Western
Provinces 1,349, and Assam 927. Furthermore, the number of vaccinators bore
the following ratio to every 100,000 of the population in each of the provinces
quoted:—Assam 3.8, Bengal 3.7, Central Provinces 2.4, North-Western Provinces
1.7 and Punjab 1.4. These figures seem to show that the vaccinators in
Bengal and Assam did less work, man for man, than those in any other province,