Report of the Director of Medical and Sanitary Services / [Ceylon].

  • Ceylon. Civil Medical Department.
Date:
[1939]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Report of the Director of Medical and Sanitary Services / [Ceylon]. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    10/32 (page 10)
    (c) Vaccination. The reorganization >of vaccination work which was described in last year’s report made satis¬ factory progress leading to better supervision. During the year the Vaccinators in Co'ombo, by arrangement with the Municipality, made the Municipal dispensaries their centres of work. 128 Sanitary Assistants secured their certificates of competency in vaccination making a total of 180 up to date. With the retirement of 2 Inspectors of Vaccination and 16 Vaccinators their posts ’were suppressed. There is only 1 Inspector of Vaccination left. The Department maintains an establishment for the preparation of calf lymph. The following table gives the number of births, vaccinations, and their results by provinces :— Primary. Re-vaccination. Province. 1938 Birth. Total Vacci¬ nated. Success¬ ful. 1. Western .. 47,976 .. 32,231 .. 28,164 . 2. Central . . 40,676 .. 30,560 . . 28,655 . 3. Southern . . 32,095 . . 22,594 .. 18,770 . 4. Sabaragamuwa .. 24,524 . . 18,832 . . 14,090 . 5. North-Western . . 20,661 .. 12,368 .. 9,391 . 6. Northern . . 15,100 .. 12,070 . . 9,501 . 7. Uva . . 14,028 . . 10,710 9,573 . 8. Eastern 9,196 . . 5,950 .. 5,337 . 9. North-Central .. 4,134 .. 4,198 .. 3,787 . Total . . 208,390 149,513 127,268 nsuccess- Results ful. unknown. Total. Success¬ ful. Unccess- ful. Results un¬ known. 573 . . 3,494 637 78 . 36 . . 523 774 .. 1,131 215 68 . 31 . . 116 725 . . 3,099 269 84 . 47 . . 138 328 .. 4,414 27 13 . 12 . 2 538 . . 2,439 7 1 . 6 . — 1,208 .. 1,361 670 70 . 24 . . 576 60 .. 1,077 — — — — 299 314 56 55 . — 1 64 347 175 .. 151 . 19 . 5 4,569 17,676 2,056 520 175 1,361 It will be noted that 71.7 per cent, of the births of 1938 have been vaccinated and of those inspected 96.5 per cent, are known to have been successful. 12 per cent, of those vaccinated were not inspected. 2.—GENERAL MEASURES OF SANITATION. Water Supply.—The water supply is commonly from wells both in urban and rural areas, 39 towns are provided with pipe borne supplies. The people in rural areas are inadequately provided with protected water, and the aim of the Department is to provide e^ch hamlet with a protected well. The routine work of the Department in regard to water supplies has been to get existing wells protected from pollution and to see that new wells are constructed according to departmental specifications. The following is a statement in regard to wells and springs :— Public Private Springs. wells. wells. Existing 2,626 . . 179,425 .. 1,886 Defective Protected during the year— • • 1,615 . 88,753 619 Partially • • 144 . 2,907 . . 47 Radically # # 101 . 712 .. 26 Newly built 57 . 673 . . j Inspections done 231,611 The Department carries out the bacteriological examination of water and collects water chemical examination which is carried out by the Government Analyst. Samples taken for bacteriological examination . . . . 68 No. found unfit for human consumption . . . . 5 Samples taken for chemical examination . . . . . . 71 No. found unfit . . . . . . . . 15 Disposal of Excreta.—In urban areas the bucket latrine is in vogue with disposal of night soil by trenching. In rural areas the following types of pit latrines, viz., rhe deep pit, bored hole, and the mound are being constructed. In a few localities disposal is by composting while in one place it is by incineration. In parts of Panadure and Kalutarg totamunes where the subsoil water is high, the water seal plate for pit latrines is being experimented on. The work done at Kalutara totamune has given satisfactory results, there being no smell or breeding of mosquitoes or files. The number of latrines constructed for the year has dropped owing to outbreaks of malaria and to the high cost of materials used for squatting plates due to war conditions. Five Urban Councils have undertaken aided schemes of latrine construction for poor people.