Intergovernmental conference of Far-Eastern countries on rural hygiene : preparatory papers.

Date:
1937
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Intergovernmental conference of Far-Eastern countries on rural hygiene : preparatory papers. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    ca yew of whole-time district health officers. The duties of the twenty- four civil surgeons who serve as district health officers and the four whole-time district health officers are laid down in Note 3 of sub-section (6) of Section 21 of the Burma Rural Self- government Act of 1921, which runs as follows : ‘* Most district councils, therefore, employ as health officer the civil surgeon of the district. The position of the civil surgeon as district health officer is that of an executive officer of the Council and as such he has no direct powers of control over the district sanitary, vaccination and conservancy staffs, who are employed and paid by the district council unless such powers are delegated to him by the council under Section 80 (1) (e) of the Act. The civil surgeon in his capacity as civil surgeon is of course, in a position to report either to the Commissioner or to the Director of Public Health any failure on the part of the district council in regard to its duties in connection with public health administration. Beyond this, however, he is not in a position to interfere with the subordinate staffs who are employed by the district council and are, therefore, subject only, in the absence of further regulations, to the orders of the council. Unless such powers are delegated to him, his functions as district health officer are advisory only.”’ In the eleven districts out of twelve to which the Act does not apply, a civil surgeon is designated by custom district health officer. Whole-time Assistant District Health Officers. A cadre of five was sanctioned in 1924, but, since 1931 until the present year, one post has been held in abeyance on account of financial stringency. It is now proposed to fill this appointment. Of the four officers serving in this capacity, three have received special post-graduate training in public health work, in which they hold a diploma, and it is hoped that the fourth, the latest recruit to this cadre, will shortly go to Calcutta to study for the diploma in public health. The idea behind these appointments is that these officers should be promoted in due course to the status of whole-time district health officers.
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