HEALTH
Apart from adopting primary health care measures such as preventing diseases by screening, providing effective treatment and health education, reliance was also placed on intersectoral collaboration and community participation to control the above problems and ensure safe food for all.
To protect the public from poisoning due to consumption of pesticide-tainted vegetables, more than 90 per cent of the vehicles importing vegetables from the Mainland through the Man Kam To border control point were inspected. Samples were taken for screening tests and chemical analysis for detection of pesticides.
Markets
The provisional municipal councils manage public markets in their respective areas. The Provisional Urban Council operated 62 retail markets in the urban areas in 1998. In these markets, 10 207 stalls offered commodities ranging from fresh food to household items.
Old and temporary markets are gradually being replaced in many cases by multi- purpose complexes. These complexes house new markets and cooked food centres on the lower floors with leisure and recreational activities on the upper floors. Markets and cooked food centres will, as far as practicable, be air-conditioned to improve the trading environment.
The new Ap Lei Chau Market opened in December. A scheme for contracting out cleaning operations was implemented in 48 markets: 23 on Hong Kong Island and 25 in Kowloon. The scope of service and frequency of cleaning have been enhanced since June in response to concerns about hygiene conditions in markets following the avian flu incident.
The RSD administered 45 markets in the area served by the Provisional Regional Council, providing a total of 5 745 market stalls and 414 cooked food stalls. The new Sha Tau Kok Market in North District was opened in February. As its first air- conditioned public market in Shek Wu Hui was very well received, the department plans to provide air-conditioning in all future markets and cooked food centres. Where economically viable and technically feasible, existing facilities will also be air- conditioned. Cleaning services for 19 markets were contracted out at year-end.
Hawkers
The provisional municipal councils maintain control over hawking activities, particularly on-street hawkers. At the end of the year, there were 8 610 licensed hawkers in the urban areas - 282 fewer than in 1997.
During the year, the hawker control teams in the urban areas, comprising 2 264 civilian staff trained in law enforcement, secured 79 508 court convictions for hawking offences by both licensed and unlicensed hawkers. Stringent enforcement action has reduced the number of unlicensed hawkers to about 3 900.
In the Provisional Regional Council area, the RSD's 87 squads of hawker control teams reduced the number of illegal hawkers to 894 by the end of 1998. About 1 323 hawkers held valid licences during the year to operate either fixed pitches or on an itinerant basis. The Provisional Regional Council has ceased issuing hawker licences except for purpose-built cooked food stalls in public housing estates and industrial estates of the Hong Kong Industrial Estates Corporation.
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