Annual report / Medical Department, Fiji.

  • Fiji. Medical Department.
Date:
[1946]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Annual report / Medical Department, Fiji. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    10/40 (page 8)
    68. The administration of public health measures in Fijian “ Yasanas ” (Provinces) and “Tikinas” (Districts) is governed by “Native Regulations”. It cannot be said that these by any means fully meet modern health requirements, but they have been under review and revised regulations are expected to be promulgated in due course. (2) MEAT INSPECTION AND CONTROL OF DAIRIES AND DAIRY HERDS! 69. The transfer of responsibility for meat inspection and control of dairies from the Medical to the Agricultural Department was one of the recommendations of the Watt-Lambie Report submitted to the Colony Government in 1943. In May 1946, the transfer of the duties of dairy inspection on the lines recommended was approved and has since become operative. It has not yet been possible for the Department of Agriculture to take over responsibility for meat inspection but plans to this end are being finalized. (3) SEWAGE DISPOSAL. 70. The only water carriage sewerage system in the Colony is at Suva and this only serves part of the town. The crude sewage is discharged direct into tidal waters. There are still 233 premises served by the pan system in Suva and the method of disposal of night soil is by punt into the sea. Septic tanks are encouraged in parts of the town which are not connected with the sewerage system. In other parts of the Colony the disposal of night soil is by septic tanks and pit latrines. 71. It has become obvious that the septic tank system cannot be exploited much further in Lautoka on account of congestion and that in the Samabula Settlement area near Suva the disposal of effluent in an impervious soil will create inadmissable conditions immediately there is any great expansion. For both these important areas installation of a sewerage system has become an urgent need. (4) WATER SUPPLIES. 72. All town and township public water supplies are under Government control. The Suva supply is chlorinated but receives no other treatment and after heavy rains discolouration of the water occurs. During the year 44 samples were bacteriologically examined and results showed that Suva water is not yet up to the desired standard. At Tavua there is, in addition to chlorina¬ tion, a sedimentation and filtration plant. Sigatoka, Nadi, Vaileka, Ba and Labasa supplies are chlorinated. A water supply for the township of Nausori and its immediate surroundings is now being installed and the treatment will be similar to that at Tavua. (5) SCHOOL HYGIENE. 73. Although there is no organized school medical service, general hygiene of schools is not neglected. Regular inspections are carried out in the mainland of Viti Levu by Health Sisters, and under them Fijian district nurses are trained to include school inspections as an important part of their duties. In the other islands the duty devolves on the Assistant Medical Practitioners, directed and supervised by the District Medical Officers, and assisted by district nurses. In¬ adequacies are realized, but policy is directed towards closer co-ordination of the work by depart¬ mental staff preparatory to integration by a school medical service at a later date. 74. In the Suva area milk had been supplied to certain schools under a subsidised system controlled by the Medical Officer of Health since 1943. Owing to inadequacy of the treatment plant this had to be suspended early in the year and was not again put into operation until the 10t.h September. From that date until the end of the year 19,925 half pint bottles were delivered. Extension of this service is limited by many factors—not the least of which is an adequate supply— and a reorganization was under close examination at the close of the year. (6) HOUSING AND TOWN PLANNING. 75. A Town Planning Ordinance was enacted in the July session of Legislative Council. This important measure provides the mechanism for orderly development in settled areas which will enable many existing faults to be avoided in future expansion. 76. At present any report on housing conditions generally in the Colony must be adverse. There is a general state of congestion in the towns and in the closely settled township and suburban areas which amounts in many instances to gross over-crowding. The limitation of new building, reconstruction and repair work during the war years has resulted in a tawdry appearance of middle and poorer class dwellings, and the existing dearth of accommodation has made it necessary for all local authorities to exercise great discretion and enforce closing orders only in cases when there is gross dilapidation or where frankly intolerable insanitary conditions exist. 77. In the rural areas conditions as regards overcrowding were better, but there is still a long way to go before the agrarian Indian community is weaned from a predilection to tin or wooden shack housing conditions, inadequate in space and ventilation for the size of the average family. In bijian villages the traditional “ bure ” type which is, normally, reasonably spacious still predominates. 78. The conditions under which labour employed by the two main industrial organizations of the Colony—the Colonial Sugar Refining Company and the Tavua Gold Mines—are catered for are satisfactory. Unfortunately the same cannot be said of those under which labour are employed in the copra industry. It is impossible to generalize as some employers have made a genuine attempt to provide up-to-date sanitary and comfortable conditions, but inspections carried out during the year disclosed that in a very great number of cases, especially perhaps on the island of Taveuni, neglect was the predominating feature.