British Mandate: A Survey of Palestine: Volume II - Page 617

CHAPTER XVI.
(viii) Two district public health laboratories at Jaffa and Haifa and six clinical laboratories at the principal Government hospitals.

(ix) One casualty post.

(x) A quarantine service at five seaports and three aerodromes, including one main lazaret.

(xi) A general anti-malarial service and special urban services in conjunction with municipalities in nineteen towns.

(xii) Forty-five anti-rabic treatment centres.

(c) A railway medical service, including medical attendance on the British community in the Haifa area and the specialist surgical work of Haifa hospital, under. a surgical specialist. (d) An endemic diseases service under each senior Medical Officer for measures of control of ophthalmic disease, tuberculosis, syphilis, schistosomiasis and ankylostomiasis.

19. The general administrative policy is to decentralise as far as possible (to districts and to sub-districts) and to place the responsibility for the medical and health affairs of each medical division on the Senior Medical Officer. The more senior posts were at first held by British officers of the Colonial Service; their duties comprise medical and health administration and organisation, supervision and demonstration, while Palestinian medical officers are responsible for the detailed execution of duties. Thus, in Government hospitals and clinics, the medical officer in charge of the hospital or clinic is Palestinian but the Senior Medical Officer controls the general administration of the hospital or clinic and supervises the work thereof. In health and sanitary work the same principle applies, but in this section the detailed work, in important cases, is carried out by the Senior Medical Officer himself. There are now two Palestinian Senior Medical Officers.

20. The policy in the past in regard to hospitals has been to rely as far as possible in the larger centres on voluntary hospitals for the treatment and accommodation of the sick of the general population, while the Department of Health provides medical and hospital accommodation :-

(a) where the voluntary hospital accommodation is insufficient : (b) for infectious diseases;

(c) for Government officers and employees, police, prisoners, medico-legal cases, and for the very poor;

(d) for mental diseases; and

(e) for special diseases.

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