2
31, in Sylhet, Kamrup, Nowgong, and Lakhimpur the average is about 35 or a
little more or less. In Goalpara the ratio was 43, and in Sibsagar the highest ratio for
any district in the plains was returned, namely, 48. The Garo Hills district shows the
highest proportion of all, viz., 79. This favorable result is due to the exertions of
Military Assistant Surgeon C. Bancroft. The Sanitary Reports for 1898, 1899, and
1900 show that the numbers of children surviving under the age of one year (i.e., births
less deaths under one year of age) were 113,425, 143,799, and 148,642, while the
numbers successfully vaccinated were 35,521, 45,283, and 37,704; the ratios protected
were, therefore, 31.3, 31.5, and 25.4. For the last working season and year the figures
are 144,222, 46,961, giving a ratio of 32.6.
Verification
by
Inspecting
Officers.
8. In only three districts, did the number of inspection of primary vaccinations
made by Civil Medical Officers themselves exceed 4,000;
these were 5,211 done by Captain A. Leventon in Sibsagar,
4,401 done by Military Assistant Surgeon Bancroft in the
Garo Hills, and 4,100 by Captain H. S. Wood in the Sylhet district. I consider this
very creditable to Captain Leventon. The percentage of number inspected by lower
agencies was the lowest in the Cachar district, viz., 28. The attention of the Civil
Surgeon has been expressly invited to the backward state of vaccination in his district,
and it is to be hoped that next year's figures will show a marked improvement. In
Nowgong and Goalpara the proportions were 32 and 34, and in Sylhet, Kamrup,
Darrang, Sibsagar, about half of the number vaccinated were subsequently inspected,
while at Dibrugarh no less than 69 per cent. were verified. This is distinctly creditable
to Major Hall. The Native Inspectors of Vaccination have, however, as a class not
done well; many of them have given a great deal of trouble, and the sanitary work they
have been called upon to do in the off season has been abominably scamped in more
than one instance. Most of these men are paid by Local Boards, and there is great
difficulty in transferring them, or keeping them in any sort of discipline. The question
of the reconstitution of Local Boards is in hand, and when this is settled, I shall propose
to replace most, if not all, of these local inspectors by Hospital Assistants of the regular
provincial establishment.
Working of the Compulsory Vaccination Acts.
Place.
Silchar Municipality ...
Sylhet
„ ...
Dhubri
„ ...
Goalpara
„ ...
Gauhati
„ ...
Nowgong
„ ...
Dibrugarh
„ ...
„
Cantonment
...
Sibsagar Station ...
Shillong
„ ...
„
Cantonment ...
Golaghat Union ...
Jorhat
„ ...
Total ...
Average
number suc-
cessfully
vaccinated
for 5 years,
1894-95 to
1898-99.
171
395
160
118
516
347*
728
39
345
329†
134†
107
166
3,555
Actual suc-
cessful for
1899-1900.
220
368
86
105
435
108
626
19
151
215
92
114
109
2,648
Actual suc-
cessful for
1900-1901.
182
305
116
71
491
309
484
18
399
274
227
91
176
3,143
Actual suc-
cessful tor
1901-1902.
333
404
135
130
465
188
586
22
340
360
86
74
141
3,264
* Average for 2 years.
† Average for 4 years.
9. By Appendix I is shown the number of children under one year of age in towns
in which the Compulsory
Vaccination Acts are in force.
From this it appears that
1,406 out of 1,757 infants
who were available, or almost
exactly 80 per cent., were
actually protected by suc-
cessful vaccination during
the last season's work. This
is the best record we have
yet made, and I hope it may
be still further raised in years
to come. The worst results
were from Goalpara where
only 36 out of 122 children
were protected, and the best
from Nowgong where no less
than 94 per cent. of all the
children under one year were
successfully vaccinated: a
happy result due, I have no
doubt, to Captain McNaught's personal popularity. From Jorhat comes the curious
statement that while only 55 children were available according to the number of births
and deaths reported, no less than 57 were vaccinated : the numbers are only small ones
and a few young children may have immigrated in the town, but no explanation is given
by the District Civil Surgeon, and I can say no more. The small inset shows the
actual amount done in each one of the last three seasons at all places in which the Acts
are in force. In Nowgong, we generally find considerable yearly alternations. The people
don't like vaccination and would rather be without it; but when small-pox breaks out
and deaths begin to be numerous, they rush for protection. This is also more or less
true of most of the Assam Valley districts. The totals of all three years are a little
below the average, which is only that of five years; during the first two of which, viz.,
1894-95 and 1895-96, there was a severe epidemic of small-pox in Goalpara and
Lakhimpur and in fact all along the river, and the very unusually large number of
vaccinations then performed has swelled the average considerably. On the whole,
I think, I may say the working of the Acts has been moderately successful, and it would