SONTHAL PERGUNNAHS.
19
Report on Vaccination in the Sonthal Pergunnahs for the year ending 31st March 1871, by
SUB-ASSISTANT SURGEON KALI KRISHNA GHOSE.
I TOOK charge of this department on the 12th October 1870. My predecessor, Sub¬
Assistant Surgeon Baboo Baney Madhub Bose, having gone down to Calcutta to do duty at the
Medical College Hospital during the non-working season, the vaccinators (5 in number)
were all distributed for duty in the several dispensaries of the Sonthal Pergunnahs. It
having been found out on inquiry that the greater portion of the Rajmehal district was
unprotected with vaccination, and that the Sonthal people generally were willing to
receive it, it was thought advisable not to deprive them of the boon now that the season had
already arrived.
2. With this purpose I obtained the consent of the Civil Surgeon, Sonthal Pergunnahs,
to commence work at Rajmehal, and called in my vaccinators from the several dispensaries
where they were at work. Three of them were very late in coming, one having arrived so
late as the 15th of November. In the meantime I had commenced work with the vaccin-
ator who was with me at Rajmehal, but owing to the above reason, the work was not fairly
established until the latter end of November.
3. My vaccinators had each a circuit of not less than six miles assigned to him, and
with this wide field at their command, they were instructed to proceed with their work in two
rows, which, by their gradual convergence, were intended to complete the circle of operations
comprising the whole district within its area. My object in this arrangement was at first to
throw a circular line of vaccination throughout the district, so that every pergunnah might be
touched at once, and be taught to feel and appreciate the boon ; and that finally, when the
circle was completed, the whole district might be flooded over with vaccination.
4. This object would have been accomplished had the batch of vaccinators under me
proved themselves fully equal to the task imposed upon them, and been all equally expert in
their work. Far from this however, they with one or two exceptions fell very much short of
what was required of them. Most of them were unskilled in the art, and deficient in the
knowledge of vaccination, unacquainted with the arts of persuasion, and careless in the
selection of matter for operation. As a consequence they worked at a great disadvantage, and
were it not for the great pains I took in constantly inspecting their work, and repeatedly pointing
out to them the true characters of a perfect vaccine vesicle with its areola of good lymph and
crust, the mode of operating in such a way as to ensure success, and the necessity for securing
the confidence of the people, I am sure my returns would not have shown half the number
of successful cases.
5. The total number of cases operated on during the year, as shown in the returns,
amounts to 6,454, with a percentage of 87 84 of successful cases. This is far from being an
unsatisfactory result; a much greater progress might, however, have been made, and a higher
percentage of success was no doubt attainable. But in addition to the above causes there
were some other minor circumstances at work to retard the progress of our work and to
interfere with its results, which must be taken into consideration.
6. In the first place the rude and barbarous Sonthals, though they were not generally
resisting, would yet often have their own ways and times. Thus, during the harvest season,
in the months of December and January—the best part of our working season—they in
whole families, young and old and all, are occupied in the corn fields, and no amount of
argument or persuasion would then induce them to submit to the operation. It was only by
watching opportunities and consulting their convenience that we could then succeed in our
attempts.
In the next place they have certain porubees or festive seasons, which sometimes last for
days together, and during which they all revel in drunkenness and mirth, and are quite
unmanageable.
In the third place there were certain changes in my establishment, besides casualties of
illness, which interfered a little with the progress of the work. One of my vaccinators
absconded in February during the height of the working season, and his place was supplied
by a new man in March. Then, again, to make up my full complement of six vaccinators, I
had in the month of December appointed a Paharia, an intelligent man of his class, who had
been taught vaccination, in the hope that he would be very useful in vaccinating amongst his
own tribe,—the Paharias,—which forms a tolerably large proportion of the population here.
This man, however, was found very negligent in the performance of his duties, and failed to
do any work in March, for which he has been dismissed.
H