18
REPORT ON VACCINATION IN ASSAM.
Inspections.
A third native inspector for South Sylhet
is needed.
117. The only inspection reported is by the Civil Surgeon, who verified 1,492 cases,
and reports 1,457, or 97.65 per ent., of these to have been
successful and by the native inspectors, who report 16,866,
with 16,490, or 97.77 per cent, as being successful. The Hospital-Assistant of the sadr
dispensary is also engaged as a native inspector for the town of Sylhet, and received Rs. 150
honorarium for this duty; but the tables do not show what share of the work, if any,
that he did. The figures of the two native inspectors are certainly open to doubt. In
no other district has one of these officers compassed half the total of inspections for which
credit is claimed in Sylhet; and, admitting that the population of Sylhet is comparatively
dense and the villages close together, an average of nearly 120 inspections for each working
day is surprising. There ought to be a third native inspector
for South Sylhet. Habigánj and Maulavi Bázár have 15
local employes and an application for an inspector, with his head-quarters at the former
station, would be favourably recommended.
Average work of each class.
118. The average work done by each class of vaccinators is, on the whole, very
good. In Karimganj four Local Fund men performed 4,032
operations, and in the sadr division 10 provincial vaccinators
had an average of 970 each. Hospital-Assistant Kamini Kumar Chakravarti at Maulavi
Bázár is specially commended by Dr. Macnamara.
Compulsory area results.
119. The municipal limits of the town of Sylhet are a compulsory area under
Act V. (B.C.) of 1880. The population- by the Census
of 1881 was 14,407, but it is to a certain extent fluctuating.
The municipal vaccinator, who receives pay all the year at Rs. 10 monthly, performed 245
operations, with 218, or 88.97 per cent., successful. His average value is, therefore, 8 annas 9 ¾
pies each. Attention has been before drawn to the inadequacy of this man's work. During
the season 168 persons were reported under Section 18 of the Act. Of these, 133
obeyed the Magistrate's orders, 8 were non-suited, and 27 prosecuted, of whom 15 were
convicted. Consideration by the local authorities is invited to the fact that the municipal
vaccinator's work is at the rate of only three operations in two days; and that, although
the births in the township registered during 1885 were only 253, or seven in excess
of the vaccinations, the former is notoriously defective, being at the ratio of 17.56 per
thousand on the Census population of 1881. It is almost certain that both birth
registration and vaccination represent only about half the requirements of the Act, and
the plea of the Civil Surgeon that the intelligent classes in Sylhet object on various
grounds to vaccination has no bearing in a compulsory area.
On tea-gardens.
120. Vaccination on tea-gardens continues, as hitherto, in a very indifferent state.
The Deputy-Commissioner writes that many managers view
it with disfavour, as tending to unsettle the coolies and to
desertions. Out of a coolie population in Sylhet which stood on the 31st December
1885 at 50,559, the aggregate number of first vaccinations was 1,507, of which 881, or
58.46 per cent., were successful. But this proportion of primary vaccination is much
greater than in the compulsory area of Sylhet itself. On this subject I would invite
attention to the remarks in paragraphs 20 and 21 of the Vaccination Report of 1884-85.
Expenditure.
121. The cost in Sylhet has risen from Rs. 1,904 in 1883-84, and Rs. 2,086 in
1884-85, to Rs. 3,284-12 in 1885-86. The increase
represents entirely additional establishments. The results
are not proportionate, as the average cost has steadily increased from 1 anna 9 pies to
1 anna 11¼ pies, and this year to 2 annas 3 pies. Of the total sum, Provincial revenues
contributed Rs. 1,537, made up of Rs. 1,050 in salaries, and Rs. 487 travelling allowance;
Local Funds added Rs. 1,427, and the remaining Rs. 320 was paid by the municipality
of Sylhet. Of the increased charge of the season, viz., Rs. 1,198, the greater portion,
viz., Rs. 928, has been provided from Local Funds; Provincial revenue has contribu-
ted Rs. 280 more, and the municipality Rs. 10 less than in 1884-85. Here it should be
mentioned that the advisability of retaining vaccinators on half pay during the recess
months has commended itself to the Local Boards in Sylhet generally ; so that an improve-
ment may be expected in the progress of vaccination during the early weeks of the work-
ing season, in the qualifications of the operators, and in the influence which their residence
and experience will bring to bear on prejudices.
Conclusion.
122. I beg to express my acknowledgments to Mr. Stevenson for the careful and
complete review with which the district report is forwarded;
and also to Dr. Macnamara for his able superintendence of so
large and often troublesome a body of subordinates. Another inspector for South
Sylhet is necessary; the vaccinators ought not to lose time by wandering over the
country looking for good places, but should each have a definite area allotted to them,