The Gazetteers Department

THE GROWTH OF MEDICAL FACILITIES AND PUBLIC HEALTH SERVICES in the district is a recent development. In the past the incidence of diseases was ascribed to evil influences. It was rarely ascribed to some physiological disorder. Many a time it was ascribed to some outside evil influence which was propitiated by some sacrifice. It was only with the spread of western education that conservatism and orthodoxy were replaced by reason and rational outlook.

In the past the vaidyas, vaidus, hakims and similar persons dominated the field of medical profession. The vaidyas used to give treatment according to the Ayurvedic system. Their know-ledge was a combination of inheritance and the practical experience acquired in course of their medical practice. The line of treatment did not. differ much in the case of the vaidyas and the hakims. Both had a limited knowledge of anatomy. The vaidus moved from place to place and had a good knowledge of rare herbs with rich medicinal properties. In the absence of specialised veterinary practitioners they occasionally treated the live-stock. The modern and up-to-date maternity facilities were conspicuous by their absence and very often the practical personal experience of the elderly ladies in the joint families proved highly useful to the young expectant mothers.

Diseases.-In the beginning of this century most of the deaths in Yeotmal district [Yeotmal District Gazetteer, 1908, pp. 44-45.] were from malarial fever. This disease was most common during September and October, and was more prevalent in the Kelapur and Pusad talukas than elsewhere. The most trying time in the district was during and immediately after the rains. Infant mortality was very high during and after the rains. This was chiefly due to climatic causes, but very largely due to the ignorance of the parents about clothing and diet. It was a common sight in the rains to see. children running about and sitting on the damp ground naked, while the parents were both clothed and protected by a blanket, which took the place of a waterproof among them. Eye cases and respiratory diseases were common during the rains. Small-pox was endemic, and cases of stone in the bladder were fairly frequent. There were frequent instances of women being drowned through falling into wells without a parapet when drawing water. A very severe epidemic of cholera spread over the district in 1906. It was believed to have been imported from the fair at Pandharpur. It spread in the villages from west to east along the river banks. When plague first came to Berar, great care was taken to prevent it from entering the district, but, in later years these precautions were necessarily relaxed. The town of Yeotmal had only one epidemic in 1906-07, and it was not very serious. Many parts of the district, owing apparently to their remoteness, had not been attacked. The people of affected villages were generally very unwilling to be inoculated. However, in 1908 about 150 persons were inoculated at one time at Son-Wadhona.

Medical relief.-In 1908, the district had ten hospitals and dispensaries with accommodation for indoor patients. The average daily number of indoor patients for three years prior to 1908 was 15, that of outdoor patients 329, and the annual number of operations was 1,333. All the dispensaries were established by Government. Their total annual income during the period was Rs. 20,000, of which Rs. 1,200 were contributed by private subscriptions, and the rest by Government in one form or another. During the same period no leper or lunatic, asylum was maintained in the district. Vaccination was compulsory only in Yeotmal town, but was carried on all over the district. The special vaccination staff consisted of a superintendent and nine vaccinators. The annual proportion of successful operations for three years prior to 1908 was 44 per mille, and the annual cost of vaccination was Rs. 2,800.

According to the 1911 Census [Census of India, 1911, Vol- X, Central Provinces and Berar, Part 1.] plague took a heavy toll of over 86,000 persons in the four districts of Amravati, Akola, Buldhana and Yeotmal amounting to 3.1 per cent of the population and was specially virulent in the larger towns. The three middle years of the decade 1905, 1906 and 1907 were singularly unhealthy throughout the cotton districts of the Maratha Plain and both in 1906 and 1907 the deaths exceeded the births in Akola and Buldhana while in Yeotmal the death-rate rose in 1906 to over 64 per mille against a birth-rate of about 60. Cholera accounted for over 22,000 persons in Berar in that year and deaths from dysentery, fever and small-pox were at their maximum, while-infant mortality was appalling.

For the district, the years 1912 and 1916 were unhealthy, the latter particularly so, and the influenza epidemic of 1918 was exceptionally virulent, no fewer than 96,909 or 13.3 percent of the population, dying that year and births fell to two-thirds of the normal in the following year [Census of India, 1921, Vol. XI, Central Provinces and Berar, Part I, p, 19.].

The district was attacked by cholera in 1921 and again in 1930; otherwise except for sporadic outbreaks of plague and other epidemics the decade was healthy. The vital statistics showed an excess of births over deaths of 92, 818 [Census of India, 1931, Vol. XII, Central Provinces and Berar, Part I, p. 43.].

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