Report of the Health Officer, Corporation of Madras Health Department.

  • Madras (India). Health Department.
Date:
[1920]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Report of the Health Officer, Corporation of Madras Health Department. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    25/160 (page 13)
    IB defects and 222 houses were improved. To secure sufficient internal ventilation by enforcing the provision of windows, ventilators, enclosed openings, open spaces, etc., systematic house inspections are indispensable. The work of house to house inspection is also very important, to abate over-crowding, by restricting the number of occupiers, consistent with the available air-space, to lime-wash or otherwise cleanse any insanitary building, inside and outside for sanitary purposes, to insist on the demolition and reconstruction of insanitary buildings, to prohibit the further use of the buildings unfit for human habitation and to make a decided advance in the work of relief of congestion. Even after making due allowance for the time required to make inspections, to serve notices to carry through prosecu¬ tions, the number of house inspections made during the year is very small. It is regrettable to note that this part of the onerous duty of the. sanitary staff was unfor¬ tunately much neglected Besides, no definite scheme in this direction has been launched upon. House to horn e inspection books containing details of every house under the jurisdiction of the Sanitary Inspector, have not been properly maintained. And improvement both in the number of inspections and in the maintenance of such books may be looked for during the current year. No case of overcrowding was dealt with during the year and it has been found practically impossible to take action under Section 275 under existing conditions. Some portions of the city are highly congested, and almost every house in already so over-crowded that the enforcement of the section pertaining to over-crowding will only result in over¬ crowding another house. Unless the Corporation makes a decided advance in its work of relief of congestion, no good results will follow and overcrowding cannot be checked. Sanitary Inspectors are now required to furnish a definite scheme with necessary plans and sketches of the congested portions of their respective divisions, so that as funds became available, advance may be made. Ere long, the Corporation should launch upon a definite scheme of provision and extension of model houses to suit the needs of the growing civic population and to secure a sanitary and profitable return to the rate-payers. Lodging-Houses (Section 279).—Lodging houses include hotels, boarding houses, choultries, emigration depots etc- The keeper of each lodging house should obtain a license from the Commissioner for carrying on the business. By the issue and renewal of licenses, the condition of these houses can be considerably improved and efficiently maintained. The bye-laws regulating the conduct of these houses were not strictly enforced during the year under report, as there was a considerable delay in framing and passing them. Further the Sanitary Inspectors have not had sufficient time and facility, as they were also m charge of conservancy m addition to sanitary duties. Lodging houses require personal inspection of the Health Officer or Assistant Health Officers to run them on sanitary lines; and to prevent over¬ crowding, it is necessary to specify the number of lodgers allowed in the lodging