( 3 )
7. Recess work.—The number of operations performed during the recess
chiefly in connection with small-pox epidemics and the upkeep of lymph for
emergencies fell from 102,359 to 94,832. This deduction was in rural areas
only.
8. Vaccination at the expense of District Boards.—The number of vaccina-
tors employed by the District Boards and paid from District Funds increased
from 41 to 87, and the number of persons vaccinated by them from 31,748
to 41,077. The Lieutenant-Governor agrees with the Sanitary Commis-
sioner in thinking that the increase of work done as compared with the
number of operators employed is unsatisfactory, and that the attention of
the Civil Surgeons should be drawn to this matter. The contributions made
by District Boards towards vaccination in rural areas rose from Rs. 3,320
to Rs. 3,623. The largest contributions were made by the District Boards of
Chittagong (Rs. 963) and Puri (Rs. 831). A comparison of the work done by
the Licensed, Government, District Board and Municipal agencies shows an
increase in the number of operations performed by all these agencies.
9. Cost of vaccination.—The total cost of vaccination during the year was
Rs. 1,84,414 against Rs. 1,73,875 in 1898-99, the average cost of each reported
successful vaccination being the same as in the previous year, viz., 1 anna and
4 pies.
10. Death-rate from small-pox.—The diagram attached to the report
illustrates the death-rate from small-pox in each district as compared with the
proportion of population protected by vaccination. The total number of
deaths from small-pox during the year was 14,514, giving a ratio of .19 per
thousand of the population against 13,044 and a ratio of .17 in 1898-99. The
following districts which had the highest mortality from small-pox show a
very low ratio of population protected:—
District.
Puri ... ... ... ...
Cuttaok
...
...
...
...
Balasore ... ... ... ...
Calcutta ... ... ... ...
Protected
per 10,000.
1,700
1,200
3,000
1,500
Death-rate
from small¬
pox per
10,000.
37
30
5
4
Darjeeling with 6,200 persons protected per 10,000 of population had 15
deaths; the lowest number of deaths from small-pox is reported from Tippera,
where only one person is said to have died of the disease.
11. Method of vaccination.—The number of operations performed direct
from the calf shows an increase of 35,000 primary vaccinations and a decrease
of over 11,000 revaccinations as compared with the figures of the preceding
year. This increase is noticeable in the districts of Midnapore, Murshidabad,
Mymensingh, and the Sonthal Parganas. The cause of the slow progress in
calf vaccination in some districts is attributed to difficulty in procuring calves.
12. Supply of lanoline lymph to Nepal.—Seven hundred and seventy-six
grains of lanoline vaccine paste were supplied to the Nepal Durbar. Only one
return showing the result of operations performed with the lymph was received,
and it was found that 70 cases proved successful and 9 were failures.
Four hundred and five grains of lymph were also supplied to the Sikkim
State, where during the last epidemic of small-pox vaccination was carried
on with success.
13. Inspections.—The Deputy Sanitary Commissioners could not as usual
do any inspection work, as two of them were employed on plague work and
the third on inspecting the health condition of the riparian municipalities north
of Calcutta. Assistant Surgeon Gopal Chandra Mukherji, who was in charge
of the Western Bengal Circle throughout the year, visited 508 villages and
inspected 12,592 operations. The Civil Surgeons showed greater activity in
this respect than in the preceding year. The Civil Surgeons of Bankura,
Muzaffarpur, Backergunge, and Champaran, who stood low in the last year's
list, now occupied the first four places. In no less than 21 districts the number
of villages visited was under 100, while in Cuttack and Murshidabad the
numbers fell as low as 11 and 8 respectively, a result which is hardly creditable
to the officers concerned.
The percentage of inspections performed by
Inspectors and Sub-Inspectors shows an improvement on previous years, falling