2
Here again we find an improvement upon the total for 1891-92; while at
the same time the results are not quite equal to those of 1890-91. This was
in part due to the introduction of the new system of animal vaccination, the
opposition to which in some of the districts appears, however, to be rapidly-
disappearing as experience is gained of the conveniences attending it. It is
noticeable that the number of infants successfully vaccinated has increased
steadily, until the remarkable result has been attained that three-fourths of the
infants surviving to the age of twelve months have been vaccinated. As a
natural consequence there has been a considerable decrease in primary vaccina-
tions of children between the ages of one and six years.
4. The explanations given by the Civil Surgeons of the districts of Sam-
balpur, Bhandara and Hoshangabad—in which the decrease in the number of
primary operations during 1892-93 was most marked—are not altogether satis-
factory. The Inspection Table given in paragraph 22 of the Report shows that
the Civil Surgeons of Sambalpur and Hoshangabad inspected comparatively few
villages (95 and 113 respectively) during the year. It is true that the figures
in Tables II and III indicate that in the Sambalpur District both the children
and the population generally are better protected than in most districts; but
in Hoshangabad the proportion of persons protected per 1,000 of the population
was as low as 25.49 in the year under review, and has been declining since
1890-91. The matter seems to call for the attention of the Administrative
Medical Officer and of the Deputy Commissioner.
5. Table III was inserted this year in accordance with the orders of the
Government of India and the suggestions of the Army Sanitary Commissioner.
According to the figures which it contains, the districts which have suffered
most from small-pox in the past eight years are Raipur, Bilaspur and Bhandara;
and the district which has suffered least is Nimar. In Nimar the proportion
of the population annually vaccinated has, during this period, never fallen
below 44 per mille, and in four years was from 50 to 59.45 per mille. In the
three districts of Raipur, Bilaspur and Bhandara, on the other hand, the highest
proportion reached has been 40.77, 37.65 and 34.62 respectively; and in three
years out of the eight the proportion was below 30 per mille. These figures are
instructive as far as they go and point to the desirability of giving greater
attention to vaccination work in Chhattisgarh and Bhandara. The most satis-
factory feature is—as was remarked in the review of the Sanitary Report for
1892—the smallness of the annual mortality from small-pox in most districts
of the Province.
6. The percentage of success in primary operations claimed by Khalsa
Vaccinators is 96.61—or about the same as last year. The inspections of Civil
Surgeons give the percentage as 93.11, which is an advance of nearly 3 per
cent. on last year's results. Statement V (a new Statement inserted under the
orders of the Government of India) shows that not quite 19 per cent. of the
vaccine operations were inspected by Civil Surgeons, while 58 per cent. were
inspected by Native Superintendents or other inspecting officers. The percent-
age of inspections by Civil Surgeons was very low in Sambalpur (4.14), Bilaspur
(6.33), Raipur (7.58), Hoshangabad (7.97) and Seoni (9.18). In Raipur alone
of these five districts was the number of vaccinated persons inspected by the
Civil Surgeon considerable. Raipur is a large district, and the number of per-
sons vaccinated in the year under review was close on 50,000.