ENG-1973 — Page 141

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HEALTH

A nine-month course for health visitors is held at the Tang Shiu Kin Hospital, which prepares entrants to sit for the examination of the Royal Society for the Pro- motion of Health. Health auxiliaries, who supplement the health visitor service, continue to have a two-year training course in health education and basic public health nursing at the same hospital.

The government conducts a continuous post-graduate overseas training programme for graduate nurses. Subjects studied during 1972 were nursing admin- istration, nursing education, dietetics, orthopaedic nursing, intensive-care therapy, operating theatre service and ophthalmic nursing.

The Hong Kong Examination Board of the Royal Society for the Promotion of Health conducts examinations for the Diploma for Local Public Health Inspectors, the Diploma in Public Health Inspector for General Overseas Appointments, the Diploma in Tropical Hygiene for Public Health Inspectors, the Certificate for Health Visitors and School Nurses and the Diploma of Air Pollution Control. Training for the Diploma for Local Public Health Inspectors, the Diploma in Public Health In- spection for General Overseas Appointments and the Diploma in Tropical Hygiene for Public Health Inspectors is carried out within the Urban Services Department.

Environmental Health

Responsibility for public cleansing and conservancy services and for the disposal of the dead in the urban areas rests with the Urban Council, working through the Urban_Services Department. In the New Territories, this responsibility rests with the Director of Urban Services.

In the Urban Services Department, about 8,900 employees are engaged in street cleansing, the removal of refuse, junk and nightsoil, and the management of public conveniences and bathhouses.

The day-to-day collection of refuse and junk employs 287 vehicles of various types. Ten mechanical sweepers and 29 street-washing vehicles are used for cleansing the streets.

An average of 3,200 tons of refuse is collected and disposed of daily 1,300 tons at the two incinerators operated by the Public Works Department and 1,900 tons at the dumps at Gin Drinker's Bay, Chau Tau, Ngau Tam Mei and Shuen Wan in the New Territories. Construction of a second incinerator in Kowloon is nearing completion and planning for a third is in progress.

The need for the free nightsoil collection service continued to diminish as pre- war property was replaced by modern buildings with waterborne sanitation. In the urban areas about 15,400 gallons of nightsoil are collected daily from 11,890 floors with dry latrines and from 1,875 pans located in temporary latrine structures erected on building sites and in squatter or licensed resettlement areas. Thirty-three specialised vehicles and three tanker-barges are employed on this service and all nightsoil collected is dumped in deep sea outside harbour limits where currents are favourable to its disposal.