HEALTH
Abattoirs
97
More than 3.01 million pigs and 194,331 cattle were slaughtered in 1980 in the two abattoirs operated by the Urban Council at Kennedy Town on Hong Kong Island and Cheung Sha Wan in Kowloon. These two abattoirs supply the bulk of the population with fresh meat. The mechanised 'on-the-rail' cattle dressing line at Cheung Sha Wan Abattoir became fully operational in August.
Meat and offal condemned in the abattoirs as unfit for human consumption is sent to the by-products plant at Kennedy Town Abattoir for processing into blood meal, meat and bone meal and animal grease. These by-products, together with pig hair and pig thyroid and suprarenal glands, are sold by public tender for agricultural and industrial use. Most is exported.
There are two licensed private slaughterhouses in the New Territories supervised by health inspectors of the New Territories Services Department. A third private slaughter- house, located in Tsuen Wan, is also expected to come into operation during 1981.
Cemeteries and Crematoria
The Urban Council provides inexpensive funeral facilities in the urban areas by operating two depots, one in Hong Kong and the other in Kowloon, within the Hung Hom Public Funeral Parlour. Free funeral services are provided, if necessary. In addition, the Tung Wah Group of Hospitals provides non-profit-making funeral services.
With land in the territory so limited, it has been official policy to encourage cremation, and the ratio of cremation to burials in 1980 was 50:50.
In the urban areas there are five public cemeteries, 19 private cemeteries and two public crematoria, while in the New Territories there are five public cemeteries, seven private cemeteries and two crematoria. Additional crematoria and columbaria are being planned for Sha Tin and Tuen Mun.
New Territories Services Department
The New Territories region of the Urban Services Department was renamed the New Territories Services Department in April, 1979. Its responsibilities and functions in the New Territories are the same as those of the Urban Services Department in the urban
areas.
Following a comprehensive review of the department's structure, the NTSD headquarters was reorganised in 1980 to improve co-ordination in the provision of services. The depart- ment's nine district offices were grouped under two regional offices - North and South - each headed by an assistant director. The North Region comprises the districts of Tuen Mun, Yuen Long, Tai Po, and North District, while the South Region encompasses Tsuen Wan, Kwai Chung, Sha Tin, Island and Sai Kung.
The activities of the department continued to expand in keeping with the rapid develop- ment and increasing population of the New Territories. Altogether, five capital projects. were completed and 219 new projects were being planned. They will include markets, pleasure and sports grounds, indoor games halls, swimming pools, beach buildings, public toilets, refuse collection points and depots to cater for the department's growing fleet of specialised vehicles.