( 4 )
Provincial vaccinators.
* Darrang........................
Cachar........................
Khási Hills........................
Gáro „ ........................
No per vaccinator.
1,108
1,015
1,385
1,270
8. The average of work done by vaccinators paid from provincial funds is a
respectable one, and shows a slight improvement on last
year's record. There are four districts* where the average
per vaccinator exceeds 1,000 cases, and two of them (the Khási and Gáro Hills) were
similarly distinguished last year. In Sylhet, the 10 provin-
cial vaccinators did only 9,699 operations, against 10,840 the
year before, a fact which may possibly be explained by the
competition of 11 new local board men, but the district is
quite wide enough for all, and each man should have his local area marked out for him,
as Dr. Eteson suggests, on the plan which has been followed in the Gáro Hills with such
excellent results. The three provincial vaccinators in Nowgong have only 2,148 cases to
show, against 3,869 last year. Elsewhere there has been a general improvement, though
Golághát and North Lakhimpur still show a very poor account (574 and 600 vaccinations
in the entire season).
Local Board and Municipal vaccinators.
9. It has been remarked before that the increased number of vaccinators paid by
local boards is the real cause of the wider spread of vacci-
nation in 1885-86, as it was also in 1884-85. The impulse
thus communicated will be a transient one (for local board vaccinators cannot be multi-
plied indefinitely), unless care is taken to work up these local men to the provincial
standard. The Chief Commissioner would far rather see fewer men working up to a
proper standard, and unless this standard is maintained he will be compelled to refuse
sanction to the local boards adding any more to their existing staff of vaccinators.
Dr. Eteson puts down the local board average (paragraph 15) as 666, but it is really
638; there were 70 men, and 44,661 vaccinations. Last year the average was 662. The
work was poorest where new men were most numerous, as the following figures show :—
Golághát........................
Jorhát........................
Nowgong........................
Habiganj........................
1884-85.
Number of
local board
vaccinators.
2
...
6
2
Number of
vaccinations.
395
...
5,871
1,651
1885-86.
Number of
local board
vaccinators.
3
5
9
9
Number of
vaccinations.
891
3,192
3,590
5,181
In Golághát, especially, the local as well as the provincial vaccinators greatly need to
be kept up to their work. On the other hand, in some places the work done by local
board vaccinators is extremely good. Mangaldai shows 2 local vaccinators and 1,891
cases ; Dibrugarh, 2 men and 2,121 cases; Karimganj, 4 men (2 new men) and 4,032
cases ; and the one local board man at Hailákándi did 1,259 cases. These figures show
that the money laid out by local boards so liberally on vaccination is generally very well
spent. If the existing body of local vaccinators could be brought up to the standard of
efficiency maintained by provincial vaccinators, the number of operations performed by
them in the year would be about 66,000.
Municipal vaccinators, whether from want of an extensive field of labour, or from
peculiar conditions prevailing among the town population, always show a worse tale of
work than any other class. Last year their average rose to 518 cases per man ; now it
has fallen to 474. Sylhet (245 cases) and Silchar (370) are bad instances, and the Chief
Commissioner entirely concurs with Dr. Eteson's remarks regarding Sylhet in paragraph
119 of his report. To these remarks it may be added that not only does the municipality
entertain a vaccinator to perform at the rate of three operations in two days, but they
give the hospital-assistant of the Government charitable dispensary an allowance of
Rs. 5 a month to sperintend the vaccinator's work. The Gauháti man shows 734 cases,
which is respectable ; but the Sibságar man has really done well, having vaccinated
894 people within the limits of his little station : an improvement for which the
Civil Surgeon deserves credit. Vaccination is compulsory in Gauháti, Sylhet, and
Dibrugarh (municipality and cantonment); in four years 6,209 persons have been
vaccinated in these three places, with a total population of 33,255 souls. There were
four prosecutions under the Act in Gauháti during 1885-86 and 27 in Sylhet.
Licensed vaccinators
10. Licensed vaccinators, who used to be officially styled ex-inoculators, are a class
of workers peculiar to Goálpára and Kátnrúp ; there is also
one man of this kind in Sylhet, who managed to vaccinate
20 people in 1885-86. Of the 9 Goálpára men, 5 in the Dhubri sub-division reported
8,583 cases, or 1,717 cases per man, an extraordinary and questionable average ; and 4
men in the Goálpára sub-division did 2,876 cases. In Kámrúp, there are 18 men in the
sadr, and 4 in the Barpeta sub-division; their total return of work was 6,885 and 1,206