Annual report of the Medical Department / Uganda Protectorate.

  • Uganda Protectorate. Medical Department.
Date:
[1950]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Annual report of the Medical Department / Uganda Protectorate. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    29/56 (page 25)
    (4) Urban Sanitation New Drainage and Sanitation Rules came into force during the year and a committee was at work on a revision of the Building Rules. The Medical Officer of Health reported considerable progress in Kampala Municipality; 6,475 rats were exterminated in 1949 and 16,189 were trapped and poisoned in 1950; over 100 premises were dealt with for insect infestations; close on 150,000 inspections of premises for mosquito breeding resulted in 32 breeding places of Aedes being discovered. Jinja reports a persistence of the medieval custom of throwing slops from upper story windows (a practice which is being discouraged), and has acquired two lorries equipped with tanks for collecting night-soil from those premises still without water-borne sanitation. Masaka has been able to prohibit the occupation of cellars. In the Eastern Province, action was taken to increase the disposal of sullage water in soakage pits inside plot boundaries. (5) Rural Sanitation Good progress has been made in many districts in the campaign for installing and using pit-latrines. In Buganda the campaign has been aided by the Health Weeks, and individual Assistant Flealth Inspectors have been able to report steady advances. In one area about 40 miles north of Kampala, 13,000 pit-latrines had been dug and others were under construction among a population of 63,000 persons; that is to say, practically every household had the use of a latrine. The same is reported, on different scales, from districts as widely separated as Busoga and Madi. The value of Hygiene Orderlies is discussed on page 39 (Section VI) and their future is being reviewed. Generally speaking, their work has been less successful than had been hoped. On the other hand, many commendatory reports have been received on the activities of Assistant Health Inspectors; these men have the advantages of a higher educational standard and a longer training, as well as closer European supervision. They have been concerned chiefly with rural hygiene. Urban sanitation has mainly been undertaken by European Health Inspectors, who have also been responsible for the promotion and control of health work in the rural areas. A valuable spirit of co-operation generally exists between Health Inspectors and the chiefs and people of the areas to which they have been posted. H. Health of Labour Responsibility for the medical care of employees rests upon the em¬ ployer. The smaller employers provide boxes of simple remedies, while the larger estates and industrial enterprises maintain dispensaries or hospitals under the supervision of their own doctors. The majority of patients suffering from serious illnesses are treated in Government hospitals. Inspection of labour camps is now undertaken by officers of the Labour Department, Medical Officers and Health Inspectors furnishing advice and any special supervision that may be required.