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Whether their knowledge of medicine is worth the expenditure in extra pay given
them, I leave others to judge; it is with their employment as vaccinators that I am chiefly
concerned, and in enabling me to form a judgment of their value as such, I am not
confined to opinions. Of the four hakeems, one did not vaccinate a single child during
the season, and on my putting pressure on him through the magistrate he resigned
when more than half the vaccine season was over. The second, employed in Bhagput,
is a feeble old opium-eater, who did so little work, that I was obliged to send a man
to assist him to maintain a supply of fresh lymph. The third has worked better in
Shaderah; but I found on the occasion of my visit that he had engaged in quarrels
with the people, and that vaccination had come to a complete stand-still. After re-
establishing his lymph, I reported the state of affairs to the magistrate, who, on inquiry,
found that the vaccinator was not to blame for his part in these quarrels. Yet the
fact of his having been concerned in them showed him to be ill-suited for his appoint-
ment. The last of the number was much the best of the whole. He received Rs. 40
per mensem, and for two months worked very fairly in Ghazeeabad. At the end of
that time, the municipal committee, thinking it a waste of money to pay him so much for
doing what could be as well done for less, reduced his salary. He regarded this in the
light of a dismissal, and withdrew. The average monthly number vaccinated by each of
these four men was only 106, or nearly a half less than the average for the rest of the
Meerut district. I think, therefore, that as vaccinators, at all events, their employment
has not been a success. I do not mean to say that there are not many very intelligent
hakeems; but these are not likely to be enticed into the drudgery of public vaccination
by such salaries as municipalities are prepared to offer them. The only men whose services
can be secured are those who have failed in practice, and as a last resource are glad to
earn a livelihood in any way. The very fact of their consenting to serve as vaccinators
is a proof that they can be of little worth as hakeems.
They are usually old men,
accustomed to an easy-going life, and utterly unfit for the hard work and harder life which
are the portion of the successful vaccinator.
The consequence is, that municipalities at
considerable additional expense, secure the services of men who, from their failure as
hakeems, have given proof that they do not possess the skill to enable them to secure
the confidence of the people as medical practitioners ; while from their age and previous
habits of life, they are unfit for the duties of a vaccinator.
17. The lymph collected by Dr. Pringle in the hill districts has been remarkably
active, and an excellent vesicle has been maintained up to the close of the vaccine
season. As usual, applications have been received from numbers of medical officers
over the North-Western and Central Provinces for supplies of lymph. These have been
at once forwarded, and, as a rule, have been most favourably reported upon.
18. It is customary in the annual Report to mention the names of such Native gen-
tlemen as have specially interested themselves in the cause of vaccination. It might
be well to contrast with these such as have failed to take any interest in, or have even
opposed, a measure which they know Government is endeavouring at great expense
to induce its subjects to accept. In the town of Moozuffernuggur, the Secretary to the
Committee, Nihal Chund, gave every assistance, and, as an example to others, had his own
child vaccinated. In Jansutt, Honorary Magistrate Syed Mahomed Ali Khan had
his own family vaccinated, and used his influence in his villages to persuade the peo-
ple to follow his example. Ahmed Khan and Hussan Khan, members of the munici-
pal commitee, Khoorjah ; Cazee Hisamûdin, member of the municipal committee, Secun¬
drabad ; Chunee Lall and Brij Lall, members of the Boolundshuhur municipal commit-
tee, devoted much of their time to assisting the vaccinators. In the town of Jowalla¬
pore, in the Saharunpore district, Kifayut Oolah Khan, Superintendent of Choongee,
did everything he could to help on vaccination. In contrast with the above, I might
mention the names of Gowri Mull, a member of the municipal committee of Deobund,
who shut his door in my face when I went to his house, and curtly declared from an
upper window that he wished to have nothing to do with vaccination; and of Honorary