ENG-1962 — Page 204

HEALTH

163

have passed the examination of the Royal Society for the Promo- tion of Health. In addition, there is a disciplined Hawker Control Force, under a gazetted officer seconded from the police, which has an approved complement of 337 including inspectors, non- commissioned officers and constables.

HYGIENE SECTION

District Health Work. The hygiene division is responsible, through the district health staff, for maintaining proper standards of environmental hygiene in the urban areas, both in domestic premises and in premises licensed by the Urban Council. The division is also responsible for environmental health measures for the control of infectious diseases in co-operation with the Medical and Health Department.

For administrative purposes, the urban districts of Hong Kong and Kowloon are divided into 12 health areas, each consisting of six to nine health districts made up of two or three health units of about 600 floors each. The district health organization is under the general supervision of a Superintendent and Assistant Superin- tendent (Hygiene). They are assisted in the field by four chief health inspectors, each in charge of three health areas, senior health inspectors in charge of each health area, and district health inspectors who are responsible for individual health districts. Pressure upon district health inspectors necessitated a sub-division of some health units in north Kowloon during the year.

Another important task of the district health staff is the hygienic control of food premises. Restaurants, cooked food stalls, food factories and other places where food is handled are inspected weekly to make sure that they are kept clean and operated hygieni- cally. Night inspections of restaurants are also carried out to ensure that hygienic practices are maintained during this important period. In addition to this, senior officers carry out weekly surprise checks on all premises licensed by the Council. Five health officers, seconded by the Medical and Health Department, act as profes- sional advisers on matters of environmental hygiene and in in- fectious disease control. The district health inspectors assist them in this, their work including investigation of cases of infectious