Proceedings of the Hon'ble the Lieutenant-Governor of the Punjab in the Medical and Sanitary Department,
No. 580, dated 5th September 1871.
Read—
Report of the Officiating Superintendent-General of Vaccination, Punjab, for the year 1870-71.
REMARKS.—The Lieutenant-Governor observes that the Punjab Vacci-
nation Department was organized in November 1864, since when to the end of
the year 1869-70 its operations had been extended to the Districts of
Lahore, Amritsar, Hushiárpore, Jullundhur, Ambála, Kárnal, Dehli, Ráwal-
pindi, Syálkot, Gujránwála and Gurdáspore, districts containing a population of
more than nine millions.
The principal hill states in the Punjab and hill
Districts attached to the Punjab have also been vaccinated (some more than
once) during the summer months, when operations in the plains are difficult or
impossible on account of the heat.
2. The number of operations performed during the year were nearly a
quarter of a million, and the percentage of successful cases (eighty-five
per cent.) is satisfactory in the extreme, if the statistics are to be relied upon.
The Lieutenant-Governor, however, cannot help observing that statistics fur-
nished by vaccinators,—men of no great education or high pay,—are likely, in
some cases, to be not altogether reliable, and the returns should be checked by
the superintending officers as carefully as possible.
3. The Lieutenant-Governor regrets to hear that the Raja of Keonthal is
opposed to vaccination. The proximity of the Keonthal State to Simla renders
it advisable that the population should be vaccinated, and the Raja will be
addressed on the subject. The decrease of small-pox in the Simla bazaars is a
matter for congratulation, and the work of the municipality in promoting vacci-
nation is deserving of commendation.
4. With regard to the remarks in the 16th para of the report relative to
the Lawrence Memorial Asylum and the want of protection from small-pox of
the children in this asylum, the attention of the Medical authorities will be
called to the point. It is absolutely essential that these children should be pro-
tected against small-pox by vaccination.
5. The new plan, sanctioned by the Lieutenant-Governor last year, of
the Vaccine Establishment revisiting the old districts before vaccinated, instead
of going into new districts, will His Honor hopes, be successful. It is too
soon at present to pronounce upon its success.
6. The Lieutenant-Governor is glad to hear that at Ludiana,—a town
where great opposition had formerly been made to vaccination,—great assistance
this year was given by certain members of the Municipality. The exertions of
Ahsan Shah, which are recommended to the notice of Government, are approved
by His Honor, and the Commissioner will be directed to bestow, on the part of
Government, a Khillut upon this gentleman.
7. With reference to para. 30 of the report, the Commissioner of Ambála
will be addressed and requested to explain how so much difficulty has been
experienced in the District of Ludiana, and why so much opposition has been
given to vaccination generally. Unless the Civil authorities take an interest in
the subject, opposition, or at least indifference, may certainly be expected from the
people; and in a matter of this extreme importance it is the duty of all Civil
officers to render to the vaccinating staff all the assistance that it is in their
power to give.
8. His Honor the Lieutenant-Governor notices with pleasure the assistance
given by the Raja of Nalagarh to the vaccinators, and the thanks of the Govern-
ment will be specially communicated to this Chief for his public-spirited and
intelligent conduct. The Lieutenant-Governor, moreover, notices with pleasure
the willingness of the people of this State to be vaccinated and the popularity
which the new system appears to have acquired.
9. Both in Lahore and Amritsar the operations of the vaccine establishment
appear to have been unsatisfactory in the extreme. In both these cities the atten-
tion of Municipal Committees should be most strongly called to the necessity of
forwarding vaccine operations by the Commissioners and District Officers.
Without the co-operation of the Municipalities and the personal insterest of the
Honorary Magistrates and Municipal Commissioners in the work vaccination