( 5 )
This total, divided over 368,820 cases of successful vaccination, makes the cost of
each case Re. 0-4-8.
14. The following table shows the cost and results of vaccination in the North¬
Western Provinces for 1874-75, compared with those obtained in other provinces in
1873-1874:—
No.
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
Provinces.
Bombay,
...
...
...
...
...
Punjab,
...
...
...
...
...
N.-W. Provinces, ... ... ... ... ...
Central Provinces,
...
...
...
...
...
Madras, ... ... ... ... ...
Bengal, ... ... ... ... ...
Berar,
...
...
...
...
...
Oudh,
...
...
...
...
...
Number of
cases by each
vaccinator.
1,652
1,509
1,234
1,162
1,001
846
800
552
Percentage of
success.
94.8
95.46
87.6
89.9
93.78
92.99
76.50
79.29
Cost per suc-
cessful
case.
Rs.
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
a.
6
2
4
2
4
2
9
5
p.
0
7
8
0
7
0
9
2
As regards number of cases performed by each vaccinator, the North-Western
Provinces stands third on a list of eight.
This position, I think, may be partly
explained by the greater length of time the vaccinators can work in the Presidency of
Bombay and the Punjab, their climate favouring an extension of the working season.
In the Kumaun Division we have greatly exceeded the average, our number being
3,235. In Rohilkhand the number is 1,350; in the Agra and Meerut circle the
average is 1,195. It is the low average of the Allahabad-Jhansi, and Benares Divisions,—
viz., 875 and 930, which so affects our general total. As regards the cost, the North¬
Western Provinces stands fifth on the list. The greater cheapness of vaccination in
the Central Provinces, Bengal, and the Punjab I attribute to the large number of
vaccinators paid from dispensary, local, and other sources than Provincial, thus reduc-
ing the proportion of cost incurred in the supervising agency. As our own numbers
of vaccinators are increased (they are being annually added to), our cost per case will
also proportionately diminish. Our supervising agency is now sufficiently strong to
undertake the contemplated annual increases. As regards the percentage of success,
the North-Western Provinces stands but sixth on the list; but I am not altogether
prepared to accept the position as correct, for I know that the statements of vaccinators
employed by dispensaries and zemindars are not free from errors on this point (and I
may add as regards numbers also) unless they have been carefully supervised by the
Civil Surgeons under whom they serve, which supervision, generally speaking, it is out
of their power to give, they being unable to leave their stations for the purpose. In
fact, it was owing to the proved untrustworthiness of that system that the present
provincial system was determined upon, superseding the former. I admit that our
system is more expensive, but at the same time the Government has some guarantee
that the money expended is reliably employed, and that the expected benefits to the
people will accrue.
KUMAUN DIVISION.
15. During the year 1874 there were 16 deaths from small-pox in the Kumaun Hills
and 31 deaths in Garhwal. The annual average number of deaths from small-pox in
the Kumaun and Garhwal Hills during the past ten years has been 45 only. This
amount of mortality, in a population numbering 743,602, is so small that practically
small-pox may be said to be non-existent. The disease certainly never can become
epidemic, for the population is proof against it. Here and there sporadic cases will
continue to occur, for a certain number of persons will always be unprotected from
having escaped the vaccinator's attention.
This was well illustrated last year in Garhwal in the patti of Dasoli, where
an outbreak of small-pox occurred in two large villages, somewhat to my surprise
2v