NOTES ON VACCINATION IN THE CENTRAL
PROVINCES AND BERAR FOR THE
SEASON 1918-19.
Administration.
The Department was administered during the season by Colonel Green,
I.M.S., till the 28th November when I resumed charge.
Total number of vaccination
operations performed.
2. The total number of operations performed during the year was 539,133
which shows a decrease of 65,673 compared with the
figures of the preceding year. Of this number, 538,216
were performed by the special staff and the remaining 917 by other agencies, i. e.,
the Railway Medical staff and Sub-Assistant Surgeons attached to Jail Hospitals.
Vaccination performed by
the special staff .
3. The vaccinators performed 447,537 primary
and 90,679 re-vaccinations.
The primary vaccinations were less by 71,141 than in the previous year.
All the districts show a decrease except Nagpur and Akola; in the former,
especially in Nagpur city, where the work had been very incomplete in recent
years, great efforts were made to vaccinate the large number of unprotected
children left over from previous years. The decrease in the other districts is
mainly due to the epidemic of influenza which not only carried off many children
but entirely disorganized vaccination work for over three months in the season.
To make up arrears the Local Administration was pleased to extend the working
season by two months, i. e., up to the end of May 1919, but the period was not
sufficient, since in some districts both the children available for vaccination as
well as the vaccination staff had not yet recovered from the effects of influenza.
Yet much has been done, and had it not been for a widespread epidemic of
cholera in the Province which claimed the attention of the staff, I am of opinion
that results would have been much better. On the whole, the staff has had
a very trying time during the past season.
4. There was an increase (+ 5,465) in the number of re-vaccinations
done by the staff which is due to the prevalence of small-pox in many districts
which induced parents to get their grown up children vaccinated. Besides, the
monthly school inspections by the dispensary medical officers and the plague
staff had also something to do with this increase. These medical officers brought
to light many unvaccinated children who were subsequently vaccinated with the
help of the school masters most of whom render great help now-a-days in the
cause of vaccination, otherwise re-vaccination, as stated by the Civil Surgeon,
Wardha, attracts little interest from the people except when small-pox is in their
midst; that infant vaccination does not confer lifelong immunity from the disease
is a truth not believed by many and requires to be taught in the schools.
The arrival from outside of famine immigrants probably swelled this
figure also.
Cost of the Department.
5. The total cost of the Department was Rs. 1,33,058-10-8 or Rs. 11,062-14-7
over the previous year. The chief increase was under
establishment charges owing to the promotion of the
vaccinators from the lower to the higher grades and to the payment of allowances
to compensate the staff for the dearness of foodstuffs, etc.
The cost per successful case has in consequence risen from Re. 0-3-7 to
Re. 0-4-7. The smaller number of operations performed during the season also
accounts for the increase in cost.
Preparation and supply of
lymph.
6. Lymph is now supplied to all districts from the Central Provinces
Vaccine Institute, Nagpur, which, under orders of the
Local Administration, charges three pies per dose of
vaccine. The Institute has throughout the year been under the charge of
Assistant Surgeon Gomes who has submitted an interesting report on its working
which on the whole has been satisfactory. The following is an extract from it :—
" Assistant Surgeon A. F. C. Gomes was in charge as Superintendent and Sub-Assistant
Surgeon Maroty Ramkrishna in sub-charge throughout the year.