78
ABSTRACTS OF REPORTS OF CIVIL SURGEONS.
of them reverted to inoculation. They were apprehended and punished. The people are
opposed to vaccination, unless the zemindar or headman shows the example of accepting
it. Inoculation is much practised. The sub-assistant surgeon states that reports of small-
pox are constantly received, but on enquiry most of them are found to be untrue. Measles,
chicken-pox, and sometimes even urticaria being included by the police under the denomi-
nation of chechack.
Singbhoom district.
Singbhoom District—Vaccination,
by means of ex-inoculators, continues to make
satisfactory progress in this district. The following is Dr. Manook's report of the events of
the season:—
Attitude of the peo-
ple
Inoculators' fees
"In my last year's report I stated under this head that the feeling of the people is
not against vaccination, and that all rests in the hands of the inoculators. This still holds
true as between vaccination and inoculation ; but, whereas, in former inoculating times the
people of their own accord, although after long intervals, invited inoculators to their
villages to carry on inoculation; they did so only in those years when they could afford
to pay these men, or were threatened with an impending epidemic of small-pox ; but now
as they are asked to undergo vaccination, without their pockets being consulted, they do
sometimes demur, especially as these inoculators are inclined to raise their fees from two
annas for girls and four annas for boys, to four annas all round. In some villages I visited,
I had to decide this point between the people and the inoculators, the latter insisting on
taking four annas for all as their customary fee, and the former objecting as being against
the customary rate. It is time to fix a certain rate of charge to put a stop to disputes
on the point between the inoculators and villagers. Three annas all round will be a fair
charge for both parties, and there would be no mistakes, and I recommend that next season
this charge be fixed. If, however, vaccination could be given them free the people would
be but too glad to receive it, and bear the tika marks on their arms. The main obstruc-
tion, so far that I can see to the spread of vaccination, is the charge on the pockets of
the poor. The inoculators charging the people also prevents vaccination to be carried on
over a continuously spreading area.
" Inoculation was not practised in the district during the year to my knowledge.
Ex-inoculators.
Vaccinated areas.
" Thirty-six registered inoculators were supplied with lymph to vaccinate in the
interior. These 36 men worked in 12 sets, composed of from two to eight persons in each
set, since they never work singly. They were allowed to retain their old beats, which they
consider as their right, and do not allow to be encroached upon by any other set of inocu-
lators. Owing to this, difficulty is experienced in localizing the work of these men to a
single area. The villagers will have only their old inoculators, and the inoculators will
either not trespass on the beats of others, or, if they attempt to do so, those to whom the
area belongs stand by their rights and soon drive the offending party away. The work
has, therefore, to be spread over many points. There is also the drawback of the inocula-
tors receiving their fees from the people, which, as stated before, prevents vaccination to be
carried on over a continuously spreading area. It cannot be expected that these men will
work without charging their fees, and their aim will be to work only in places where they
can expect to be paid ; they will, therefore, operate in those villages only where the inhabit-
ants are both willing and able to pay them for their trouble. If some villages in their
beats refuse to be vaccinated for want of funds, the inoculators will, to prevent loss to
themselves, skip over these villages; or, again, if three or more sets are allotted work in
their own beats, but which are contiguous to each other, if one set finds the villages of his
beat unwilling or unable to pay, he will transfer his work to another part of the district;
or if he has no other beat, will not work for the season, and a gap will thus be left in the
area of vaccination. During the last season I made many attempts to place these men
next to each other, but in their own beats, but I was unsuccessful. Still I was able to form
certain vaccine areas in three or four parts of the district, which I hope to be able to extend
year by year as the inoculators are brought more and more under proper rules and regula-
tions. These points are Chuckerdherpore, 16 miles to the north-west; Huldipooker, in
Dhalbhum, 22 miles to the east; a part of the Coleban, six miles to the south-east, and
Chyebassa, central. I shall allot to each set of vaccinators his own beat contiguous to these
centres, and make them work in an extending circle. This could be easier, if their idea of
right to certain parts of the district as their old inoculating circles could be done away
with ; but to do this there would be many difficulties to overcome, for not only the inocu-
lators, but the villagers also, must be brought over to allow others but their own well known
brahmins to tika them.
Work accomplished
by Ex-inoculators.
" Of the 12 sets of inoculators supplied with lymph, eight sets, consisting of 24 inocula-
tors, have sent in returns. These men have vaccinated in 120 villages and operated on
8,358 persons, but the returns show the results in 6,870 cases. This gives 348 operations
per man on the whole number, and 265 per man on the successful cases returned. In some