2
No. 1374 L., 21ST SEPTEMBER 1917
successful operations per mille of the population was returned at 32.8 for the
Presidency as a whole, against 35.4 in the previous year.
6. The average cost of each successful operation in the case of local fund
vaccinations was As. 3-10, against As. 3-8 in the previous year, in spite of a
slight decrease in the cost of establishment. In the case of municipal vaccinations
also the cost rose, from As. 4-4 to As. 4-10. The cost was in excess of As. 5 in
the districts of Gōdāvari, Nellore, Cuddapah and the Nilgiris, and in excess of
As. 8 in the municipalities of Kodaikānal, Karūr, Erode, Dhārāpurain, Tirupati,
Madras and Peddāpuram. In Kodaikānal the conditions are exceptional, but in
the other towns it should be possible to secure a reduction in the cost without
impairing efficiency.
7. The number of children under one year of age successfully vaccinated fell
from 608,342 to 588,937. The districts in which large decreases occurred were
Nellore, South Arcot, Cuddapah, Coimbatore, Vizagapatam and Malabar.
Decreases also occurred in the municipalities of Erode, Trichinopoly, Gudiyāttam
and Negapatam. In Adōni, Coimbatore and Erode the number of children pro
tected against small-pox constitutes a very small proportion of the number which,
according to the birth registers, should have been available for vaccination. The
municipal councils concerned should insist on greater attention to the vaccination
of children.
8. The deputy inspectors of vaccination verified 67.7 per cent of the total
number of primary and secondary vaccinations in all areas except cantonments
and 40.5 per cent of the number of cases re-vaccinated. The District Medical and
Sanitary Officers verified a small percentage of primary and secondary operations.
In Vizagapatam, Bellary, Coimbatore, Madura and Ramnad the total number of
cases verified by them was less than one per cent of the total number of operations.
The verification work done by the sanitary assistants to the District Medical and
Sanitary Officers continued to be inadequate; it was less than two per cent in
Gōdāvari, North Arcot and Tanjore, and less than one per cent in Kistna. The
Government trust that all district boards will insist upon the sanitary assistants
exercising close supervision over the work of vaccinators.
9. The general results of the year were unsatisfactory both in regard to the
number of operations performed and in regard to the degree of success obtained.
Inspecting officers lay the blame for this state of affairs mainly on the ignorance
and unreliability of many of the men employed as vaccinators, and the Government
have for some time recognized the necessity of attracting a better class of men.
While the inspecting staff is paid by Government, the vaccinators are employed by
local boards and municipal councils; the resources of most of these local bodies
are limited and the pay given by many of them to their vaccinators is so small
that it attracts only men who can get no employment in any other capacity. The
Government have sanctioned an improvement in the pay and prospects of the
deputy inspectors of vaccination from April next and have urged on local bodies
the necessity for a similar improvement of the pay and prospects of vaccinators,
accompanied by an insistence on higher qualifications and character in the persons
selected. More than one district board has already propounded a scheme of
reorganization and all are, it is believed, aware of the deficiencies in the present
arrangements for protection against small-pox and willing to effect the necessary
reorganization.
(True Extract)
R. A. GRAHAM,
Acting Secretary to Government.
To the Sanitary Commissioner.
„ the Sanitary Engineer.
„ the Surgeon-General.
„ the Local and Municipal (Medical) Department.
„ the Home (Judicial) Department.
„ the Revenue Department.
„ the Assistant Quartermaster-General, 9th (Secunderabad) Division (with C. L.).
„ the Director of Public Instruction.
„ the Accountant-General.
„ the President, Corporation of Madras.
„ all Collectors.
„ all Presidents of District Boards.
„ all Chairmen of Municipal Councils.
Editors' Table.