Resolution on the Report on Vaccination in Assam for 1888-89.
Extract from the Proceedings of the Chief Commissioner of Assam, in the General
Department, No. 4,562, dated the 27th July 1889.
READ—
THE Annual Vaccination Report for 1888-89.
RESOLUTION.
THIS report was submitted with commendable punctuality. It was received in
manuscript on the 10th June 1889, and in print on the 10th July 1889.
2. It is unnecessary to recapitulate the general results, which can be readily
gathered from the report itself. The Chief Commissioner regrets to say that the impression
conveyed to his mind by the report is that the work of vaccination might with advan-
tage receive much closer supervision at the hands of the medical officers. It is true that
the number of operations performed throughout the Province generally shows an increase,
and that some improvement has taken place in other respects as compared with the
previous year, but these generally satisfactory results are unfortunately subject to
obvious exceptions in the case of several districts.
Thus, with the exception of Sylhet, Goálpára, Sibságar, and the Gáro Hills, there was
a falling off in the operations performed in every district in the Province, and if the figures
for Sylhet and Goálpára, where a considerable increase of activity was shown, are
excluded, the provincial total of operations becomes 88,135, against 93,245 in the
preceding year. Again, in the important district of Kámráp an increase in the staff of
vaccinators (from 37 to 49) does not appear to have brought about any increase in the
number of operations. The Chief Commissioner has carefully perused the explanations
embodied in paragraph 4 of the report, but finds it difficult to avoid the conclusion that
they can scarcely be regarded as satisfactory, inasmuch as they are too much in the
nature of an admission that the arrangements made were in some respects insufficient,
and that their insufficiency was brought to notice too late to admit of a remedy being applied.
It is worthy of note that the districts in which an increase of operations has taken
place are those in which, according to Table No. 3 at page 3 of the report, the medical
officers have been themselves most active in the performance of the work of inspection,
and it seems a fair conclusion that the falling off which occurred elsewhere, if it might
not have been actually avoided, might at all events have been materially reduced if
more active direction had been given to the work. The Chief Commissioner is, however,
glad to notice that instructions have been issued by the Deputy-Surgeon-General
to Civil Surgeons, which, it is hoped, will secure better results during the current
year; and, if this has not already been done, he would feel obliged if Dr. Costello would
further impress on Civil Surgeons and other supervising officers the great desirability of
watching the work while it is actually in progress during the vaccination season, and of
thus placing themselves in a position to apply remedial measures immediately when the
necessity arises. The exercise of such continuous supervision throughout the months
which constitute the vaccination season, coupled with the immediate application of any
remedial measures necessary, could scarcely fail to be attended by improved results.
3. Under the head of Vaccination on tea-gardens, which is dealt with in paragraph 6
of the report, the results corresponded closely with those of the previous year. No appre-
ciable increase took place in the total number of operations performed. It is, however
satisfactory to notice that the operations performed by garden agency advanced in number
from 5,046 to 5,779, but here again the improvement which took place in the Province
as a whole was not reflected in the case of all districts. As was pointed out in paragraph
5 of the Chief Commissioner's Resolution on the report for 1887-88, the Deputy-Commis-
sioners of tea districts should lose no opportunity of directing the attention of managers,
of gardens to their responsibilities in regard to vaccination.
4. The results of vaccination in compulsory areas, as shown in Table 5 (paragraph
7 of report), are not satisfactory, but this matter, as also the question of penalizing
inoculation in Assam, to which reference is made in paragraph 30 of the report, is
being separately considered by the Chief Commissioner.