4
VACCINATION REPORT.
(d) During the year the appointment of a Deputy Inspector to the Nilgiris
Range was recommended and has since been sanctioned. It was also suggested
that the employment of Badagas as vaccinators and the appointment of a Badaga
Deputy Inspector would probably be of great use in overcoming the shyness of
the people in the matter of vaccination, and the proposal having been agreed to,
steps are being taken to gradually replace all the low-country vaccinators by more
suitable men.
5. The subjoined table shows total vaccination work done by all agencies
throughout the Presidency :—
Primary vaccination ... ... ... ... ...
Re-vaccination ... ... ... ... ...
Total ...
1898-99.
1,039,713
78,280
1,117,993
1899-00.
1,096,821
62,588
1,159,409
From this it will be seen that there has been an increase of 41,416 cases as
compared with last year. The increase has occurred mainly in the Local Fund
areas, where the number of operations performed shows an increase of 50,397.
There has also been an increase of 2,302 in the work done by municipalities, and
the total increase would have been more marked but for the decrease which has
occurred in the work done by Government and zamindari vaccinators (6,861), in
cantonments (363), and in the work done by civil dispensaries (1,320) and medical
subordinates (2,739), thus reversing the experience of last year. Primary vaccina-
tion shows an increase of 57,108 cases, but this gain is to some extent counter-
balanced by a decrease of 15,692 under re-vaccinations. The total number of
operations performed is still less than the totals of 1896-97 and 1897-98, but the
increase that has occurred is satisfactory in that it has occurred mainly under the
head of primary vaccinations performed in Local Fund areas, and thus indicates
steady subsidence of the plague scare which caused the large falling off that
occurred last year. The decrease under the number of cases done by medical
subordinates is not of importance as these figures depend mainly on the number of
admissions of unprotected persons into the jails, and on similarly fluctuating causes.
The number of cases in civil dispensaries shows a tendency to steadily decrease
every year, and this is probably partly due to increased energy exhibited by Local
Fund and Municipal vaccinators. This is satisfactory both in this respect and as
being in accordance with the policy approved by Government in removing obstacles
to the popularity of medical institutions. The heavy decrease under re-vaccination
is unsatisfactory. Here also, however, the figures largely depend on the number
of persons who have, for various reasons, to produce certificates of re-vaccination,—
a constantly fluctuating factor.
(i) The districts which show the largest increase are Gódávari (17,819),
North Arcot (11,302), Tanjore (7,724), Salem (7,500), Tinnevelly (7,290), Kistna
(7,088), and Kurnool (4,621). Of these all but one (Tanjore) showed a decrease
last year.
(ii) Seven districts show decrease, these are Vizagapatam (16,738), * Ganjám
(5,065), * Trichinopoly (4,838), *** Coimbatore (4,629), * Bellary (1,006), Malabar
(406), and * South Canara (208).
N.B.—One asterisk denotes that there was a decrease last year also and three that there has been a decrease for
four years in succession.
Explanations of decrease offered by the Deputy Inspectors concerned are as
follows:—
Vizagapatam.—Absence of vaccinators on suspension, want of help in zamin
villages, absence of small-pox.
Ganjám.—Absence of vaccinators without substitutes, paucity of cases,
absence of small-pox, famine.
Trichinopoly.—Plague scare, absence of vaccinators without substitutes.
Coimbatore.—Want of help from village heads, especially as regards keeping
up lists of unprotected children, reduction of the minima, plague scare, inefficiency
of paste supplied by the local depot.