( 2 )
the birth-rate he taken at 40 per mille, as stated in paragraph 2 of the report, and
which, judging from the returns obtained by the Sanitary Commissioner, would
seem to be not excessive, the number of births annually would be about 800,000,
for whose protection against the ravages of small-pox the officials of this Depart-
ment are required to provide. Against these figures the successful vaccina-
tions of the past year, by the special Provincial establishment, are shown to
amount to 391,529 on subjects of all ages, those on infants tinder one
year reaching only 157,115 in the Punjab districts, or about one-fifth of the
births. It is true that in addition to this there are the operations of locally
entertained vaccinators numbering, according to the returns submitted, 75,756
successful cases, of which 43,116 were those of infants under one year, the
aggregate of infants operated on through both agencies being thus scarcely
more than one-fourth of the estimated births; but, as before observed, the local
returns are not considered reliable, so that the above must be looked upon as far
too favourable a statement, and the only figures to be accepted as approximate-
ly correct are those of the Provincial establishments.
5. It is certain that we are not making that progress which the urgency of
the case demands. The special Provincial establishment has been at work 15
years, and the following is a brief outline of the extent of its operations during
that period:—
During the first six years, from 1864-65 to 1869-70 inclusive, the estab-
lishment confined its operations to 5 or 6 districts yearly, going over fresh
ground each year, but revisiting some of the localities in which work had been
previously carried on, and 14 districts had, during this period, been visited ;
but the system which had thus far been followed was not considered altogether
satisfactory, it was therefore suggested that instead of constantly extending
operations, and moving into new ground each year, it would be better to work
in old districts, visiting them over and over again with the hope of eradicating
small-pox and keeping it out of them if possible. Accordingly, in 1870-71
the Provincial staff was distributed over 15 districts, in which were included
the 14 already visited, and it has continued to work them up to the present
time with the following results ;
The population of these 15 districts, according to the census of 1868,
was 10,512,637, which would give an annual birth-rate at 40 per mille
of
...
...
...
420,500
The average per annum of the operations of the
Vaccine Department in these districts during the 9
years was :
On children under 1 year
On those above 1 year
97,390
103,156
200,546
It is clear from this that in infant vaccination, the establishment has
fallen far into arrears, and that it does not make up for lost ground in dealing
with the subjects of over 1 year.
In 1872-73 the Provincial staff extended its operations into two more dis-
tricts with a population of 1,117,335, and an annual birth-rate calculated on
the census figures of 1868 of—
44.942
The average per annum of children under
1 year vaccinated in these new districts
was
And of those over 1 year
17,942
10,264
28,206
In 1875-76 another district was taken up ; in 1877-78 four more districts
were entered upon ; and last year, after the lapse of 14 years from the time the
Department was constituted, operations were commenced in four additional dis¬