PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE
Reference :-
CO 885
23 PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON
ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE BE REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC- COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRAPH-NOT TO
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15. Explanation of Details.-The following explanations refer seriatim to the recommendations given in Section 13:-
(1) The addition of large sanitary duties to the post of Chiet Medical Officer will add greatly to his work. It will necessitate many more inspections and also general superintendence of the work of the Sanitary Inspectors and the Sanitary Engineer, with scrutiny of the sanitary recommendations for a large number of villages. An additional £100 a year for this is a small addition, and the pay of the Chief Medical Officer, and indeed of all the Medical Department in Cyprus, appears to be below the average price for good medical service.
(2) An assistant Sanitary Officer will certainly be needed while the organisation of the new Sanitary Department is in progress. It will be impossible for the Chief Medical Officer himself to do all the work, especially that of instructing the Sanitary Inspectors and taking many spleen-rates. The Assistant Sanitary Officer should at first be one of the Medical Officers who is suitable and available for the post; but, when the organisation has been started, this post may perhaps be converted into that of a Sanitary Clerk in the Chief Medical and Sanitary Officer's office.
(3) The seven whole-time Sanitary Inspectors should be placed, one under the Chief Medical and Sanitary Officer, and the rest each under a District Medical Officer, and therefore under the District Commissioner. Each Inspector will have to be cognisant of all the villages in his district and of the sanitary defects in each. He should be sent to spend a few days in each village and to make a thorough study of it on the spot. He should be able to keep good notes of his findings, and to report them intelligently to the District Medical Officer, the District Commissioner, the Chief Medical and Sanitary Officer, or the Sanitary Engineer. He should also attend the inspections of these officers if called upon to do so and if not otherwise wanted. The Chief Sanitary Inspector should be the most rapable man of the class, and should be placed under the Chief Medical and Sanitary Officer for despatch to any part of the Island. The whole staff must be trained under the orders of the Chief Medical and Sanitary Officer. At first, until the capacity of the individuals has been ascertained, they should not be placed on the permanent list, but be taken merely on weekly wages, so that they can easily be removed if found to be, or to become, inefficient. They should have power to inspect the muni- cipalities as well as the rural areas, as it is important that the Sanitary Department shall have cognisance of all the sanitary defects throughout the Island. Their headquarters should be at the hospital of each District Medical Officer, under whom they serve directly. If wanted to attend inspections by other officers, he should be communicated with in the first place. They might also be allowed to attend the inspections of the Rural Medical Officers if occasion arises. It will be apparent that, under these circum- stances, these men will have important duties to perform, and that they should be as independent as possible of local influences. was therefore strongly urged upon me that their pay should be as good as possible. Moreover, they should have every facility for travelling; and I was informed that the cost of each would there-
It
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fore amount to quite £100 a year, with an additional £50 for the Chief Sanitary Inspector under the Chief Medical and Sanitary Officer. The necessity for this last official is obvious-ke can be sent at any moment to check the work of the other Inspectors, and to investigate any local defect which may be apparent at any time. no account be part-time The Sauitary Inspectors should ou officials.
(4) The post of Sanitary Engineer will be essential for any efficient sanitary service. Petty works will be required in almost every village, and many of these can be properly effected only by an official who is acquainted with Public Works practice. After careful consultation with the Chief Medical Officer, and the Director of Public Works, I came to the conclusion that the post had better be filled by an official seconded from the Public Works Department; and the pay suggested (in Section 13 (4)) was the pay recommended to me as being appropriate. The duties of the Sanitary Engineer will be to visit as many villages as possible, and to carry out the petty works required, with the fund allotted under Item (5). He must work under the Chief Medical and Sanitary Officer directly. He will, of course, be always kept informed of the defects noted by the various Medical Officers and the Sanitary Inspectors. He should understand Turkish or Greck, or both, and should be a man of very considerable energy and capacity. Sanitary works requiring a large expenditure of, say, over £25 should be referred to the Chief Medical and Sanitary Officer for further reference to the Public Works Department, if necessary; and the Sanitary Engineer will therefore have to deal mostly with the innumerable petty improvements connected with collections of water, deposition and removal of refuse, gradients of drains and ditches, etc., which will be called for in almost every village.
(5) This is the fundamental item of the sanitary scheme. At present, apparently, the villages possess no funds at all for making the small improvements just referred to. The mukhtars are obliged to report cases of contagious or infectious diseases, and are supposed, in some indefinite manner, to be generally responsible for the sanitation of their villages. Obviously, however, they can do nothing unless they have funds, and apparently no arrangement is made at present by which funds can be placed at their disposal for these purposes. This defect is almost general in many countries. For instance, in Greece the inhabitants of two of the villages told me that no money whatever had been spent in their villages since they could remember; and I heard the same com- plaint this year in Spain, and previously in India. The villager pays his taxes and produces the food of the world, but little is done for him in the sanitary line. The villages are allowed to remain for years full of festering pools, unsightly rubbish heaps, and many other sanitary defects. The only hope of introducing a remedy is to establish some fund for the purpose. The grant which I recommend amounts only to an average of £3 a village. Only The recommenda- experience can show how far this will suffice. tion should be considered with Paragraph 27, page 6, of the Census Report for 1911. According to this there are 80 centres of popula- tion with less than ten persons, 201 centres with 10-100 persons, 211 centres with 100-250 persons, and 187 with 250-500 persons.