2
No. 1657 L., 30TH AUGUST 1897.
work done in municipalities. The total number of re-vaccinations fell from 77,546 to
74,589, the decrease being, in the opinion of the Inspector of Vaccination, largely the
result of the inefficiency and want of influence of the Vaccination staff. The im-
portance of revaccination will be once more impressed upon local bodies, who should
take steps to deal adequately with the matter.
3. Verification by Deputy Inspectors.—The number of cases reported to have
been verified by the Deputy Inspectors rose from 594,423 to 617,632. Of these
officers, nine against twelve in the previous year failed to verify 50 per cent. of the
cases in their ranges, and it is stated that explanations have been called for. The
Deputy Inspectors of Vizianagram, Ellore, Paramagudi, Dindigul and Salem appear
to have done particularly good work. But the work of the Deputy Inspectors
generally, as Surgeon -Major Bannerman indicates in paragraph 3 of the report, is
in many cases open to suspicion. The District Medical and Sanitary Officers in-
spected 30,488 cases against 25,512 in 1895-96. The number of cases verified by
the Inspector of Vaccination himself was considerably smaller than in the previous
year, but this was due to the fact that, during three of the best working months of
the year, Dr. Bannerman was either ill or employed on other more pressing duties.
The report should have contained some information as to the special character of
the irregularities noticed by the Inspector in the course of his tours. The scheme for
the employment of two Assistant Inspectors of Vaccination referred to in paragraph 3
of the report must lie over until orders have been passed on the proposals for the
reorganization of the Vaccination department now before Government. The sugges-
tion made by the Inspector in paragraph 4 should form the subject of a separate
communication.
4. Infantile Vaccination.—Excluding the figures relating to the cantonments of
Bangalore and Secunderabad, the total number of reported operations during the year
was 34.8 per mille of the population against 33.5 in the previous year, and the
number of children under one year successfully vaccinated was 328,383 against 311,912,
being 33.6 per cent. of the registered number of births against 32.1 in 1895-96.
Infantile vaccination was still very unsatisfactory in the districts of Tanjore, Gódávari,
Granjám, South Canara and Malabar. The results in the last-mentioned district are
particularly bad; the special attention of the Collector will be called to the subject.
The best results appear to have been obtained, as in the previous year, in the districts
of Madura, Coimbatore and Chingleput and in the municipalities of Madura, Ootaca¬
mund and Coonoor ; but in the city of Madras only 69 per cent. of the children born
during the year are shown to have been successfully vaccinated. The outturn of work
in Tanjore, Srírangam, Cuddapah and Kumbakónam was far from satisfactory, being
less than 60 per cent. The special attention of the municipal councils concerned
will be drawn to this neglect, which indicates a failure in the duty of enforcing the
compulsory clauses of the Act. As compared with the previous year, the largest
increase in the proportion of infants protected was in the Madura Municipality,
where the rise was 21.4 per cent., ascribed to the vaccination of a large number of
infants belonging to strangers. The most serious fall occurred at Parlákimedi (21.2
per cent.) and Chicacole (18.7 per cent.), and this is attributed to the insufficiency
and bad quality of the vaccine paste supplied from the Chicacole depôt. It should
have been explained what steps are taken to insure that an efficient vaccine is
supplied from the depôts and to check at an early stage the issue of a bad quality.
5. Agency Tracts.—The work of the Government vaccinators in the Agency tracts
of Ganjám, Vizagapatam and Gódávari, taken as a whole, showed a further increase,
the total number of operations performed being 21,350 against 20,537 in 1895-96 and
18,960 in 1894-95. The average number of operations performed by each vaccinator in
the Jeypore range rose from 653 to 1,174, which is satisfactory ; but there was a large
decrease in Ganjám and in the Gudem Hills, which has not been explained.
6. Local Fund Areas.—There was an increase of 56,628 in the number of opera-
tions performed in local fund areas, and the average outturn of each vaccinator rose
from 1,517 to 1,559. In thirteen districts there was an increase, which was con-
siderable in Vizagapatam (22,844), Ganjám (11,382), Kistna (11,041), Gódávari