2
Tirhut Division.
There was a general increase in the number of operations reported from
all the districts of the Tirhut Division.
Bhagalpur Division,
The districts of the Bhagalpur Division recorded small increases except
Purnea in which a decrease of 4,058 was
reported. Monghyr District recorded the
highest increase in this division, viz., 7,519.
Orissa Division.
With the exception of Cuttack all the districts of Orissa recorded
increases in the number of operations,
the greatest increase being in Balasore
(8,104).
Chota Nagpur Division.
With the exception of Singhbhum there was a general rise in the number
of operations returned from the districts
of Chota Nagpur, the greatest increase
being in Manbhum (5,304).
4. Vaccination in Towns and Compulsory areas.—Statement VII shows
that during the year 15,278 children under one year of age, out of an available
number of 30,292 or 50.43 per cent. were successfully vaccinated.
The towns of Monghyr, Bhagalpur, and Darbhanga, show the smallest
proportion of work done, and the towns of Chapra and Cuttack also made
unsatisfactory returns.
5. Work done in the Native States under the supervision of the Political
Agent and Commissioner.—Vaccination work in the Orissa Feudatory States
has steadily developed during recent years under the direction and encourage-
ment of the Political Agent and Commissioner.
Both vaccination and to a large extent re-vaccination are practically
compulsory in the majority of these States.
During the year under report 195,641 primary operations and 340,805
re-vaccinations were performed as compared with 145,836 and 283,289
respectively, in the previous year.
6. Protection of infants.—During the year under report the number of
children under one year available for vaccination was 1,034,163 and the
number of successful operations was 375,127 equal to 362 per thousand
against 358,558 or 331 per thousand successful operations out of 1,081,900
children available during the previous year. The protection of infants in
municipalities is separately shown in statement VII. It gives a ratio of 504
per thousand of the surviving infant population as compared with 452 in the
previous year.
These figures are unsatisfactory in as much as they show that far more
than half of the total number of operations is performed on children
over one year of age. Civil Surgeons and Assistant Directors of Public
Health are unanimous in attributing the opposition to vaccination to be
concerned more with the age of the child, than with the operation itself,
and, in view of the strong popular prejudice which. exists against the
vaccination of infants at an early age, I consider that it is desirable that
the Vaccination Act should be amended, so as to raise the age for compul-
sory vaccination to one year instead of six months.
7. Incidence and mortality of small-pox.—During the last ten years the
total number of deaths from small-pox in the districts of this province has
been 95,628.
During the first quinquennium the number of deaths was 43,241 and
during the second 49,387. In each of the last five years the mortality was as
follows :—18,514, 19,374, 4,911, 2,695 and 3,893. The graphs published in
the Annual Public Health Report indicate that there is a definite, though