25
12
27. The Director of Medical and Sanitary Services is the official adviser to Government on all medical and sanitary matters and is the Officer responsible to Government for the Public Health of the Colony. Under his direction come the Government Hospital Organisation, the Inspection of Chinese Hospitals and Chinese Dispensaries, the Medical Inspection of Schools, the Bacteriological Institute, the Analytical Laboratory, Anti-malarial Activities, Vaccination, Quarantine and Port Health Work, Social Hygiene Work, Maternity and Child Welfare Work, and the Registration of Births and Deaths.
28. The Sanitary Department which is distinct from and independent of the Medical Department has at its head a lay- man, an officer of the Cadet Service. This Department does the work usually performed by the Health Department of a Munici- pality and in addition deals with all matters connected with scavenging and conservancy. Attached to this department are Medical Officers of Health who are seconded from the Medical Department, two Veterinary Surgeons and fifty-six European Sanitary Inspectors.
29. There is a Sanitary Board composed of officials and non- officials whose powers and responsibilities are laid down in the Public Health and Buildings Ordinance 1903 and which acts as an advisory body to the Head of the Sanitary Department who is ex-officio chairman of the Board. The Board has no direct control over the Department. The functions and powers of the Board and the Department are limited to the Colony and to that portion of the New Territories adjacent to Kowloon which is known as New Kowloon.
30. The present machinery for the promotion of the Public Health is complex in that responsibility for the organisation of energy both for the cure and the prevention of disease is divided among a number of units, governmental and non-governmental, which operate more or less independently of one another.
Public Health Laws and their administration.
31. The principal Ordinances which have effect in matter of Hygiene and Sanitation are:--
I. The Public Health and Buildings Ordinance which resembles the English Public Health Act of 1875 and which deals with Infectious Diseases of humans and of animals, the wholesomeness of foods for human con- sumption, abattoirs, markets, dairies, food factories and food shops, nuisances, scavenging and cleansing, drainage, sewerage and sewerage disposal, latrines, urinals and water closets, factories, workshops, laun- dries and offensive trades, buildings, their siting, design and construction, wells and pools.
13
II. The Waterworks Ordinance.
III. The Sale of Food and Drugs Ordinance.
IV. The Births and Deaths Registration Ordinance,
V. The Boarding House Ordinance.
VI. The Factories and Workshops Ordinance. VII. The Summary Offences Ordinance.
32. The Public Works Department is the Authority under the Waterworks Ordinance.-The Sanitary Department is respon- sible for the carrying out of the provisions of the Public Health and Buildings Ordinance except in so far as it refers to buildings, drainage and sewerage, wells and pools, which are dealt with by the Public Works Department. The Sanitary Department also deals with the Sale of Food and Drugs Ordinance. The Boarding House Ordinance, which controls lodging houses, boarding houses and hotels, and the Factory and Workshops Ordinance are under the authority of the Secretary for Chinese Affairs. The Births and Deaths Registration Ordinance is administered by the Medi- cal Department. The Summary Offences Ordinance is the con- cern of the Police.
Transport of the Sick.
33. Motor Ambulances, garaged at the Fire Station, are con- trolled by the Police and Fire Department. Hand Ambulances are operated by the Sanitary Department. The Tung Wah Hospital and the Tung Wah Eastern Hospital each has a motor ambulance of its own and so has the St. John Ambulance Brigade,
Medical Relief.
34. Provision of medical relief is furnished by the Govern- ment, by Chinese Benevolent Institutions and by Christian Missions.
26
No comments yet.
Private notes are available after approval.