3
estimating the cost of vaccination operations any portion of the expendi-
ture on the supervising staff should be retained. The decision recently
arrived at that the vaccination report should in future be included in the
general public health report makes perhaps the present a convenient time
for bringing about the change. The cost of the general public health
staff will no doubt appear in the general public health report and when
the vaccination report forms a section of the general report, it will per-
haps no longer be necessary to debit to vaccination any portion of the
general supervising staff. The question, however, is one that is not con-
fined to the Punjab only, and before submitting your final conclusions on
this matter to Government you will no doubt ascertain and take into
consideration the practice in this connection in other provinces in India.
9 The figures showing the degree of success attained in the case
of primary vaccinations referred to in paragraph 9 of your report and the
statistics showing the increased demand for the lymph prepared in the
Punjab Vaccine Institute both from within and without the Province
show that the high standard of the Punjab Vaccine Institute is being
well maintained, and reflect great credit on the staff responsible for these
results.
10. The lessons to be drawn from the diagram attached to the
report are much the same as referred to last year. If anything the
advantage of sustained efforts over a number of years is emphasized this
year even more clearly than last. There are again nine districts in which
the death rate during the year under report exceeds 5 per 10,000, but this
year the whole nine are in the second half of the table against seven out
of nine last year, the table, as noticed then. being arranged in order of
merit based on the number of successful vaccinations per 10,000 of the
population during the preceding six years.
11. Government agree in the conclusions reached by you that the
triennium marks a steady and satisfactory increase in vaccination, but
that there is reason to fear that the disease is more prevalent than
the official statistics suggest. It would also appear that public opinion
is yet a long way from realizing the enormity of permitting persons
suffering from dangerous diseases to mix with the general public and
spread infection wherever they go. The case referred to in your
report where the parents of a student sued the University authorities
for not permitting their son to remain in an examination hall when
found to be suffering from smallpox is, as remarked by you, a striking
illustration of this attitude on the part of the general public, and it
would be interesting to know if the suit referred to was fought out in the
courts, and if so, with what result.
12. In conclusion, I am once again to convey to you and your
officers the appreciation of Government on the results achieved both
during the year 1928-29 and throughout the whole triennium, and to
request that the officers mentioned by you in the concluding paragraph
of your report may be informed that the good work done by them has
been brought to the notice of Government.
I have, etc.,
ALAN MITCHELL,
Secretary to Government, Punjab,
Transferred
Departments.
2177 CS—424—12-3-30—SGPP Lahore.