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HEALTH
Health Visitors and School Nurses. Training for the Diploma for Local Public Health Inspectors, the Diploma in Public Health Inspection for General Overseas Appoint- ments and the Diploma in Tropical Hygiene for Public Health Inspectors is carried out within the Urban Services Department.
Environmental Health
Responsibility for environmental health services and for the disposal of the dead in the urban areas rests with the Urban Council working through the Urban Services Department. In the New Territories, the Director of Urban Services is responsible.
About 8,600 employees of the Urban Services Department are engaged in street cleansing, removal of refuse and nightsoil, disposal of the dead and the running of public conveniences and bathhouses. -[]
An average of 2,900 tons of refuse is collected and disposed of daily-1,300 tons at two large oil-fired incinerators operated by the Public Works Department and 1,600 tons at the controlled tips at Gin Drinker's Bay, Chau Tau, Ngau Tam Mei and Shuen Wan in the New Territories. Construction of a second incinerator and the planning of a third one for Kowloon are in progress.
Certainly the largest, most expensive and most ambitious project of its kind ever mounted here, the 'Keep Hong Kong Clean' campaign reached its peak in November with a massive clean-up in which the entire community joined forces with the govern- ment to fight filth and to create cleaner living conditions generally. This campaign took 18 months of planning and involved the introduction of new public cleansing, hawker and anti-litter legislation enforced by litter wardens, contributions of resources from all government departments, an extensive publicity campaign (described in Chapter 14) and the active participation of some 80 Area Committees representing 8,000 volunteers at peak mobilisation. The success of this major drive is to be seen throughout Hong Kong's streets, public places, picnic areas and in the communal parts of multi-storey buildings, but is even more evident in the changed attitude of the people towards the disposal of refuse and litter. Thus, a major step was taken to arrest the ever-encroaching dirt and squalor that afflicts most industrial societies. However, it is recognised that this success must be firmly and vigorously built upon in the years ahead, and planning to this end is now in hand.
The need for the free nightsoil collection service continued to diminish as pre-war property was replaced by modern buildings with waterborne sanitation. In the urban areas, about 16,579 gallons of nightsoil are collected daily from 13,072 floors with dry latrines, and from 1,454 temporary latrine structures on building sites and squatter or licensed resettlement areas. There are 34 specialised vehicles and three tanker-barges employed on this service and, since a former maturation plant closed, all the nightsoil collected is dumped into deep sea outside the harbour limits where currents are favourable.
The hygiene staff, consisting mainly of the health inspectorate, is responsible for the maintenance of environmental sanitation and for the hygienic control of all types of food business, food and drink, and laundries. Regular inspection of domestic