Resolution on the Assam Vaccination Report for 1883-84.

Extract from the Proceedings of the Chief Commissioner of Assam in the General
Department, No. 6,036, dated Shillong, the 18th September 1884.

READ—

       The Annual Report on Vaccination in Assam for the year 1883-84.

                            RESOLUTION.

Date of submission of report.

THIS report has been submitted with fair punctuality, as it was due on the 1st
July and was received on the 12th. It was written by
Dr. Eteson, who succeeded Dr. Clarke in the office of
Sanitary Commissioner on the 14th January 1884.

General statistics of the year.

2. Vaccination has made rapid progress in Assam since the year 1881-82, when
first a marked improvement manifested itself. The follow-
ing table shows the total number of vaccinations, whether
primary or secondary, in each district during each of the last three years:—

3. The total number of operations, therefore, increased in the ratio of 27.8 per cent.
in 1882.83, and of 53.4 per cent. in 1883-84. The number for 1883-84 is nearly double
that for 1881-82. and is greater than that for 1882-83 by 30,854. The districts which
have contributed most prominently towards this increase are Sylhet (with an increase
of 7,042), the Gáro Hills (4,831), Kámrúp (3,099), and Goálpára (7,537). There is also
an increase of 8,093 in the number of vaccinations reported from tea-gardens as having
been performed by garden agency; but it is impossible to say how much of this increase
represents extra work done and how much is due merely to more adequate returns.
Darrang alone shows a decrease, and a serious one, in the number of operations as
compared with 1882-83.

Primary vaccinations.

4. Almost all the year's work consisted of first vaccinations. Their total number
was 88,123, and 76,368 of these, or 86.66 per cent., are
returned as successful. With regard to their success,
however, these operations fall into two well-marked classes: those performed by garden
agency, 10,336 in number, about half of which (5,300) were successful, and the 77,787
operations by the departmental staff, where the reported percentage of success stands as
high as 91.36 (71,068 cases). Last year it was 896, and the year before 88.7, so that
with the extension of vaccination the proportion of cases reported successful by Govern-
ment.operators is steadily increasing: while in the case of garden agency the reverse is
observed, the percentage having fallen from 77.8 in 1882-83 to 51.2 in 1883-84. Dr.
Eteson is inclined to ascribe this difference partly to the fact that inspection on tea-gardens
is more complete, while the tendency of Government operators, if working unchecked, is
to return every operation as a successful one. This was the plan actually adopted by
the ex-inoculators of Barpeta, and the Government vaccinators of Sylhet have done
practically the same thing, returning 11,018 successful primary vaccinations out of a total
of 11,104.

Inspection.

5. An examination of the inspection statistics confirms the suspicion that the
returns of successful operations cannot be trusted. Inspec-
tion covered about the same proportion of the year's work as
in 1882-83, viz., about one-third of the total number of operations performed by