4
10. Verification by the inspecting staff.—Out of 314,160 primary operations and
104,285 re-vaccinations performed during the year 1919-20, the district Civil Surgeons
inspected 6.26 per cent. of primary operations and 6.28 of re-vaccinations, as compared
with 5.83 and 4.49, respectively, in 1918-19 and 6.98 and 5.42, respectively, in 1917-18,
the average of the triennium. under report being 6.35 and; 5.39, respectively, as against
6 62 and 6.73 in the preceding triennium. During 1919-20, the Civil Surgeon of Goal-
para Captain C. Bancroft, I.M.D., headed the list of vaccination inspections with a
total of 2,741, Colonel MacLeod in Lakhimpur inspected 1,314, followed by Dr. Dodds
Price in Nowgong with 1,303, and Dr. Madhok in Cachar with 1,221, Major McCoy
in Darrang inspected 765 and Dr. Neogi, in Kamrup, 666, while in Sylhet, Colonel
Wood and his Assistant Surgeons inspected 13,216 operations. In Sibsagar the Civil
Surgeon Major Macdonald, I.M S., inspected none at all. In the hills districts,
Major L. B. Scott, with 957 inspections, heads the list, followed by Dr. Monrowd
in the Garo Hills, with 310, Dr. Blinkworth in the Lushai Hills, with 156 and Dr.
Chaliha, Naga Hills, with 97. In Manipur, out of 30,558 primary operations and
42,747 re-vaccinations the Civil Surgeon Dr. S. R. Bhattacharya inspected 293
primary and 2,839 re-vaccinations.
The subordinate inspecting staff inspected 51.35 per cent. of primary operations
and 39.25 of re-vaccinations in 1919-20, as compared with 54.86 and 59.66, respective-
ly in 1918-19 and 55.18 and 40.86, respectively, in 1917-18. The percentage of inspec-
tion of primary operations was the highest in the district of the Khasi and Jaintia
Hills (96.79), other districts showing good results being Nowgong (81.03) and Sibsagar
(73.77) and the percentage was below average in the districts of Garo Hills (20.19),
Lushai Hills (38.95), Darrang (28.67), Kamrup (31.21) and Naga Hills (40.46). The
percentage of inspections in Manipur was also low.
11. Vaccination in compulsory areas.—The estimated number of children under
one year of age available for vaccination amounted to 3,125 in 1919-20 and of this
number 58.78 per cent. were successfully vaccinated in the towns in which vaccination
is compulsory, as compared with 48.09 in 1918-19 and 53 per cent. in 1917-18 and
57.59, the average of the preceding triennium. The degree of protection afforded to
infants varies in different towns. In 1919-20 in the town of Sibsagar, more than the
number of children born during the year were vaccinated owing to the importation of
unprotected children into the town. In Golaghat and Doom Dooma, all available
infants were vaccinated before reaching one year of age, while the percentage
was between 80 and 90 in Nowgong and Tezpur, between 70 and 80 in- Dibru-
garh, Shillong and Nazira, between (60 and 70 in Goalpara, Jorhat and Maulvi
Bazar and between 50 and 60 in Habiganj, Dhubri and Gauhati. The percentage
was low in Sunamganj (17.80), Silchar (29.74), Mangaldai (30.00), Karimganj
(33.33) and Barpeta (39.87). It should be noted however that these figures are
to same extent misleading as a measure of infant vaccination, as they only refer
to the number of children under one year of age who have been vaccinated
during the year, the balance being children, who are not yet 12 months old
whose parents prefer to postpone the operation till their children are nearer one
year old, and of them only those who die or leave the town before vaccination,
escape protection. These observations are based on inspections of the working of the
compulsory vaccination Act performed by myself and my staff in the course of
municipal inspections and I have satisfied myself that the provisions of the compulso-
ry Act are now for the most part satisfactorily enforced and that few, if any, children
born in these towns escape vaccination after one year of age. Doom Dooma is the
only town to which compulsory Act was extended during the triennium.
A proposal to make vaccination compulsory in certain rural areas in which vac-
cination is dangerously neglected was submitted to Government during the triennium
but it was not accepted, except in regard to areas in which a village authority under
the Assam Local Self-Government Act, 1915, has been constituted. The applica-
tion of this measure to some of these new areas is now under consideration although
such areas are not ordinarily those in which the measure is most required.
12. Vaccine Depôt.—The number of capillary tubes loaded during the year
1919-20 was 799,297 as compared with 483,385 in 1918-19 and 561,854 in 1917-18
and 571,232, the average of the preceding triennium. The increased production in
1919-20 was to meet the demands arising from the activity which was displayed in
making up the arrears of the previous year. The number of calves inoculated in
1919-20 was 651 lymph being taken from 553 only, the remaining 98 calves being
rejected for failure of operations in 18, illness in 23 and ulceration and unsatisfactory