Resolution on the Vaccination Report of Assam for 1899-1900.
Extract from the Proceedings of the Hon'ble the Chief Commissioner of Assam in
the General Department, No. 6171G., dated Shillong, the 16th July 1900.
Read—
The Vaccination Report of Assam for 1899-1900.
RESOLUTION.
BY letter No. 7M & S —892G., dated the 25th January 1900, the Principal
Medical Officer and Sanitary Commissioner was informed that, in accordance with
the orders of the Government of India, the Vaccination Report was to be sub-
mitted triennially, that the next triennial report was to be submitted for the three
years ending 1901-2, and that for the intermediate years statistical returns, with
brief notes in the shape of commentaries, should be furnished. The Principal Medical
Officer and Sanitary Commissioner has, however, made no change whatever in the
form or extent of his report, and the Chief Commissioner hopes that in future years
more attention will be paid to the orders referred to. Sections 17 to 27, which merely
reproduce information already embodied in Table No. 4, might with advantage be
omitted.
2. There was little variation in the staff of vaccinators employed during the year,
which consisted, exclusive of dispensary establishments and vaccinators employed on
tea gardens, of 19 inspectors and 186 paid and 23 licensed vaccinators. During the
year, 272,265 vaccinations were performed, as compared with 258,905 in the preceding
year. Of the operations performed, 255,131 were primary and 17,134 secondary
vaccinations. A large and unexplained decrease took place in the number of
vaccinations effected in districts of the Naga Hills and the Khasi and Jaintia Hills,
while the number in the Garo Hills was almost double that of the previous year.
Some improvement took place in Sibsagar and Nowgong, both of which gave very bad
returns for 1898-99.
Paid and licensed vaccinators and apprentices performed 236,031 vaccinations,
against 232,419 in the previous year, while the number of dispensary operations rose
from 14,271 to 24,715, and the number effected by tea-garden agencies fell from
12,215 to 11,519. Each vaccinator performed on an average 987 operations, against
981 in 1898-99. The cost of the Vaccine Department was Rs. 22,938, and the average
amount expended for each successful operation 1 anna 7 pies, against 1 anna 7½
pies in 1898-99.
3. Of the primary vaccinations, 98.50 per cent. were successful, and the Principal
Medical Officer and Sanitary Commissioner believes that this high average is due
to the excellent quality of the Shillong lymph. As the percentage of primary
successful operations improves, that of secondary operations naturally declines. In
1899-1900, only 88.90 per cent. of secondary vaccinations were successful. Notwith-
standing the observations made in the Resolution for 1898-99, the amount of inspection
made by Civil Surgeons and native Inspectors of Vaccination shows little sign of
improvement. A conspicuous exception to the general neglect of this important work
was the case of the Garo Hills district where Military Assistant Surgeon Bancroft
more than doubled the number of verifications made by him in the previous year
and nearly doubled the number of operations in his district. Civil Surgeons found
that 96.81 and native inspectors 98.50 per cent. of the cases verified by them were
successful.