Annual report on the Medical Department / Straits Settlements.

  • Straits Settlements. Medical Department.
Date:
[1933]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Annual report on the Medical Department / Straits Settlements. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    35/134 (page 13)
    IV.—HYGIENE AND SANITATION A.—Organisation of the Health Branch The Director of Medical and Health Services is the head of the Health Branch of the Straits Settlements. The Chief Health Officer, Singapore, is responsible for the health of the port and the rural areas of the island, and also for school inspection both within and without the Municipal areas. The Chief Health Officer’s staff consists of one Rural Health Officer, one Deputy Rural Health Officer, one Assistant Health Officer (Schools), one Lady Medical Officer (Schools), one Port Health Officer, one Assistant Port Health Officer, one Health Officer, Quarantine Station. There is one European Chief Sanitary Inspector for the Rural areas of Singapore. Under him are a staff of locally trained sanitary officers. The Rural areas of Singapore are d.ivided into five sanitary districts, with one Sanitary Inspector in each district. The Health Office is the centre from which the district health propaganda and welfare work are developed. Wherever there is a district dispensary, the office of the Sanitary Inspector is usually situated either in the same building or nearby. There are two Rural Health Sisters in Singapore, under whom locally trained district health nurses conduct maternal and child welfare clinics, make house to house visits, visit schools in the villages, and also carry out a certain amount of maternity work in conjunction with the locally trained midwives. The travelling motor dispensary in Singapore, in addition to treating the sick, co-operates in this work. The Penang Settlement, excluding the Municipality of George Town, is divided into three areas for the administration of public health measures (i) Penang Rural Area, (ii) Province Wellesley and (iii) the Dindings. In addition the Senior Health Officer is responsible for Port Health and Quarantine work of Penang port. Under him there is a Health Officer for Province Wellesley, a Deputy Rural Health Officer and an Assistant School Health Officer for Penang, a Senior Deputy Port Health Officer and an Assistant Health Officer (Quarantine). The Eady Medical Officer, Penang, thg Deputy Medical Officer, Dindings and the three Assistant Medical Officers in Province Wellesley are also part-time Health Officers in their respective districts. There is a European Chief Sanitary Inspector and there is a staff of locally trained Sanitary Inspectors in each of the sanitary districts. The rural areas of Penang Island and Province Wellesley are each divided into four sanitary districts; the Dindings constitutes a single sanitary district. There is one Sanitary Inspector in residence in each of these nine districts. A Health Sister for Penang Rural Area has charge of maternity and infant welfare work; in Province Wellesley, there is a Senior Staff Nurse who undertakes this work under supervision of the Health Officer. There is also a staff of five locally trained Staff Nurses and six Mid wives whose work extends into villages and to remote kampongs throughout these areas. In the Dindings there is one locally trained Midwife who attends to maternity work both in the hospital and neighbouring villages. The travelling motor dispensaries in Penang and Province Wellesley co-operate in public welfare work, in addition to treating the sick. Details of rural areas in Penang Settlement are as follows : — Area in square miles Estimated population Birth-rate Death-rate Infantile Mortality Rate Penang Rural 98% 52,258 34*31 24*60 151*70 Province Wellesley .. 280 143,887 36*88 24*87 144*36 Dindings 183 21,939 37*29 29*07 183*43 The Health Officer, Malacca, and his staff are responsible for the whole of Malacca. He is also the Rural Board and Municipal Health Officer, Port Health Officer and Registrar of Births and Deaths, Malacca. The Deputy Health Officer is on full-time health work, but the Assistant Health Officers are in charge of two district hospitals in Malacca and are under the Health Officer as regards health and sanitation. There is also a staff of trained Sanitary Inspectors in all the districts. The rural area of Malacca is divided into three sanitary districts—central, north and south. One Sanitary Inspector and one Sanitary Overseer are stationed in the southern district and