REPORT ON VACCINATION IN ASSAM.
17
vaccinate the Nágas if possible. Small-pox is said to have again been brought into the
plains markets by the hill Nágas.
Lymph supply said to have been unfavour-
able.
92. All the bovine lymph supplied from the Sanitary Commissioner, Bengal, was
unsuccessful. No mention is made of the English lymph
which was supplied ; in point of fact, of 10 distinct and
separate supplies only one is stated to have been good and efficient. This is in such
marked contrast with the reports from other districts that I apprehend there was little
or no trouble taken with selection of first cases, watching the operation, and carefully
establishing the result.
Inspector required
93. Sibságar should have an energetic native inspector for 1885-86. All the
statistics and the report have a shadow of distrust and
doubt in their value. The actual work done is never
known; and the operators, without fear of detection, become slack.
LAKHIMPUR.
Annual report is received late
94. The annual report of the season is prepared by Surgeon R. R. H. Whitwell,
Civil Surgeon of Dibrugarh. It has been delayed for several
week by references, and has been received, still somewhat
defective, only on the 26th June.
Operations.
95. The work was conducted on the same lines as last year. Each vaccinator
was given a defined area and aided by a parwana, calling
on the mauzadars to assist him. He was ordered to report
progress, in person if possible, once a month. In North Lakhimpur, Dr. Cran selected
the vaccinators and superintended their operations. The assistance given by the
mauzadars was very slight.
Inspection very thorough.
96. The inspection has been painstaking and thorough.
The following remarks are especially deserving of record:—
" In some places I carried out a systematic series of inspections, and tested the accuracy
and merit of nearly every operation.
*
*
*
*
*
*
On only one occasion did I notice soiled and dirty lancets.
*
*
*
*
At the beginning I had endeavoured to remove the possibility of such occurrences by teaching the
vaccinators the danger of carelessness and warning them of punishment. In the case mentioned, the
vaccinator had been engaged in the middle of the season
*
* The error that I was chiefly
careful to note was spurious vaccination. I could not get the operators to understand that a partially
developed vesicle fading away by the fifth or sixth day on an open sore was non-protective, and should
be imperatively repeated. The vaccinators were either disinclined to repeat their work or too keen
to show a large percentage of success. I endeavoured to impress upon them that I did not want
percentages of 95 or 98, but that I did want the people protected against small-pox. *
* Such
proportions in Assam, where the mass of the operations is not from arm to arm, but by stored lymph
and crusts, are not reliable. When such a proportion was reported, I at once suspected their accuracy
and endeavoured to ride out and inspect it."
This is certainly the correct principle upon which to act; and is in marked contrast
to the apathy in respect of the real protective value evinced in Sylhet.
Ex-inoculators engaged to vaccinate.
97. Surgeon Whitwell met with an old inoculator, Dhol Gobind, and his son, who
had influence enough to retard any vaccination in their
villages. He secured the son as a permanent vaccinator,
and changed their interests from inoculation to vaccination. The son vaccinated over
600 children in two months. It will, however, be necessary to watch carefully these two
men. It is possible they may have " utterly renounced inoculation and all its ways,"
but the habit of years is not readily overcome, and it is possible they may continue to
practise both.
Difficulty in obtaining good men as tem-
porary vaccinators.
98. Like nearly every other report, Dr. Whitwell experienced the greatest difficulty
in securing men of any worth as vaccinators. Dhol Gobind
and his son were not to be won over on promises of
temporary employment. The universal objection is that they get no pay for six months,
and have to provide for themselves. But he makes a suggestion which possibly may
lead to getting round the difficulty, which is understood to be purely financial. He
writes—
" In spite of their high pay, only one vaccinator employed the season previously came back, and
he was a partial failure. I feel sure the question of permanent employment will ultimately be
considered an advantage ; and when that day comes, vaccinators will be found to work willingly and
for less pay."
Proposal to secure permanent men.
Possibly, both the provincial and local authorities would be ready to accept some
such middle course. If, for example, a vaccinator, who now
gets Rs. 12 a month for six months, would come permanently
on Rs. 9 for six months, and half pay (Rs. 4-8) for six months, he would practically
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