42
22
—
23
CHAPTER IV.
been looked upon as a whole municipality whereas it is in reality only a Sanitary Committee--the rea! Municipality being the Legislative Council with the Governor as its head.
The Hong Kong Ordinance was originally framed to provide for the cordi- nation and cooperation of Governmental machinery already in existence under the direction of the P.C.M.O. and was never intended for a self-contained public health and sanitary department independent of the Medical Department such as the Sanitary Department became in 1906 and such as it exists today.
A review of the history.
A review of the history of sanitary effort in Hong Kong shows that there never has been a proper health organisation in the Colony and that the Sanitary Board and the Sanitary Department never have been the equivalent of Public Health Committees and Public Health Departments in up-to-date cities but have only been n board and a department for order and town cleansing.
The opinion of the unofficial members of the Sanitary Board which formed the Commission of 1906 was that "in view of the nature of the work demanded, the post of President should not under any conditions he held by a medical man" inferr- ing that the work was not of the nature which could be supervised by a medical man and, therefore, was different from the Public health work in Shanghai and other cities of the world where a medical man with special health qualifications does supervise the Public Health Department and with success.
Government's declaration in 1924 made it clear that the main object of the 1903 Ordinance was the maintenance of a certain standard of cleanliness, the preven- tion of overcrowding in tenement houses and the safeguarding of the purity of the Colony's food supply,
The H.S.D. in 1926 said that the work done by the Sanitary Board and Sani- tary Department "is not in any sense technical being concerned with subjects which are closely concerned with sanitation but which have little or nothing to do with a medical or health department".
He also said that with the present restricted action of the Board the title MO.H. is admittedly misleading and in no way indicative of his actual position and. 9/10ths of the work these officers do is not in any sense medical.
"The Sanitary Board and Sanitary Department should shake off all semblance of being a technical Health Board and Health Department and stick to the important work entrusted to them under the Ordinance”.
The title Public Health and Buildings Ordinance is then clearly a misnomer for the Ordinance is not intended to be a public health code but only a Sanitation Ordinance and a Buildings Ordinance—the word sanitation being used in its restrict- ed sense and having the meaning it had in 1875,
•
THE PRESENT POSITION.
Hong Kong has no "Municipality" in the ordinary accepted sense of the term, the Governor himself being the Head of the City and Head of the Port. A Legislative Council takes the place of a Municipal Council and the Colonial Heads of Depart- ments perform the duties which a municipality would be performed by Municipal Heads of Departments.
The machinery for the promotion of the Public Health is complex in that or- ganisation both for the cure and prevention of disease is divided among a number of units, governmental and non-governmental, which operate more or less independently under conditions which can hardly be said to be conducive to co-ordination or co- operation. This machinery includes (a) the Law and (b) the organisation for carrying. out the Law.
The Hong Kong Laws dealing with the subject of Public Health are con- tained in :-
A. the Summary Offences Ordinance.
B. the Port Regulations.
C. the Registration of Births and Deaths.
D. the Sale of Food and Drugs Ordinance
E. the Public Health and Buildings Ordinance.
F the Water Works Ordinance.
The Organisation for carrying out the Law includes :—
1. The Medical Department with its several branches.
2. The Sanitary Board
3. The Sanitary Department.
4. The Public Works Department.
5. The Secretary for Chinese Affairs.
6. The Tung Wah Charity and the Chinese Public Dispensaries.
7. The University.
8. Voluntary Associations.
THE MEDICAL AND HEALTH DEPARTMENT.
The Director of Medical and Sanitary Services is the official advisor to Govern- ment on all medical and sanitary matters. Under his direction come the Govern-
ment organisations for :-
a. Medical Research and the investigation of disease and disease pro-
ducing factors.
b. The preparation of sera, smallpox vaccine, anti-microbic vaccines
and anti-rabic vaccine.
e. Pathological investigation.
d. Mortuary accommodation and diagnoses of cases found dead.
e
Anti-malarial investigation including mosquito surveys.
f. The bacteriological testing of waters, milks, foods, etc.
The chemical and physical analyses of waters, foods, drugs, and commercial articles.
h. Quarantine and Port Health Work including the medical aspect of
Asiatic emigration.
i. Vaccination.
43
No comments yet.
Private notes are available after approval.