4
50 per cent of the work, but it is to be feared that this would hardly be the case
although the statement shows 97.85 per cent successful on the total.
Lymph.
13. During the past year the proposed Central Depôt was opened in
Nagpur in rooms lent temporarily by the Medical Depart-
ment at the Lunatic Asylum. The work is being
conducted on the lines of the Belgaum Vaccine Institute by a Military Assistant
Surgeon and a Sub-Assistant Surgeon who both received a special training at
that institute. As the accommodation does not permit of the preparation of
lymph on a large scale, only two districts were supplied with lymph prepared at
the depôt.
A grant of Rs. 50,000 has been made by the Government of India for the
construction of suitable buildings which will shortly be undertaken. There are
a large number of details to be considered in starting such work, e.g., the
supply of animals, cold storage, purification, methods of issue, etc., to say
nothing of the design and site for buildings all of which take time. The work,
however, has been started satisfactorily and will now proceed and be expanded as
soon as possible. It was found that 38 calves, vaccinated during the year
(of which 36 were successful), yielded 940.69 grammes of pulp or 3,788 c. c. of
lymph, sufficient for 75,760 doses, and 57,780 doses were issued to the two
districts. There was a considerable wastage, a certain amount of which can
hardly be avoided, but attempts must be made to control this by prompt use of
the material as soon as received.
The expense incurred in working the depôt during the year was
Rs. 7,279-13-4, of which Rs. 2,544-15-0 was spent on salaries, Rs. 334-1-0
on travelling allowance and Rs. 4,400-13-4 on miscellanous items such as ice hire
and feed of calves, etc. For the current year Rs. 18,000 has been allotted and
a large proportion of this sum will be required to provide calves which will have
to be purchased and subsequently sold. The amount seems high, but when the
depôt is in full working order and able to meet the demands of the whole
province, a small charge for the lymph supplied to Local Bodies will, it is hoped,
cover part of this expenditure from Provincial Funds.
14. In the other districts lymph was as usual prepared locally and 2,656
calves were vaccinated, of which 56 were rejected for suppuration, etc. On the
present results of work at the depôt it is calculated that 400—450 calves will
supply lymph for the whole province, showing that an enormous waste of
material is at present going on. The total expenditure incurrred was
Rs. 3,393-8-1 during the year against Rs. 3,932-3-10 in 1912-13 and
Rs. 1,643-3-11 in the year before.
15. Only glycerinated lymph was used and the success obtained was
97.85 per cent against 98.30 in 1912-13 and 99.01 in the year previous. Two
Civil Surgeons have experimented on the Iodine method of vaccination, which
was advocated by Major Waters, I. M. S., in the Indian Medical Gazette, Septem-
ber 1913, with contradictory results. Such good results have been reported
from elsewhere that a further application of the method is indicated.
Vaccination in Municipal
towns.
16. There were 43,084 births in Municipal towns during the year 1913-14
and deaths among children under one year of age num-
bered 10,779.
The total number under one year
successfully vaccinated was 27,091. This amounts to 84 per cent of the
available children, calculated in the manner indicated above. In some of the
towns work must have been very slack indeed, for instance in Chanda and
Damoh 40 per cent of the children have been left unprotected, while in Hingan-
ghat, Pawni, Tumsar and Sausar the work is reported to be poor. In Narsingh-
pur the number vaccinated was higher than the number of children furnished from
the vital statistics of the town which is proof of what can be done with a little
care.
It is necessary here to remark that Municipal Committees do not appear
to recognise responsibility for the proper administration of the Vaccination Act.
They should bear in mind that vaccination is now under local bodies with the