7
Instructions for District Officers during the Rains.
The District Officer is the Chief Ptogue Authority of a ward, having general
control over all plague operations in his ward, and he is responsible for seeing that all
members of the establishment under him work properly.
He will work in co-operation with .the staff of the Health Department, and should
bring to the immediate notice of the District Health Offi cer/ Inspect or any cases of insanitary buildings
gullies, drains, &c., which do not come within the scope of his duties as simply a plague
officer. For instance, a house in which a case of plague has occurred will be cleaned
as far as possible, by the District Officer's own staff; but the cleansing of dirty
gutters, &c., in other cases is the business of the Health Department, and any instance
discovered should be reported at once to the District Health Offi cer/ Inspect or. As Plague authority, the
duties of the District Officers will fall under the following heads :—
(a) To make himself thoroughly acquainted with his charge, and see thai his
establishment is sufficient and duly distributed.
(b) To organize Local Committees, see to the distribution of work among the
members so that the whole area is kept under regular observation, and
to arrange for regular meetings, to hear grievances and discuss difficul-
ties. Notes should be kept of the work done by each Committee
member, and a report made about any Committee which is neglecting
its work.
Note.—During the rains all assistance which members of the Local Com-
mittees or other gentlemen may give is to be accepted, but District
Officers should refrain from pressing volunteers to carry on inspections
which may be repugnant to them in bad weather, and may result in a
difficulty in getting assistance later on.
(c) To obtain immediate information of plague cases.
The members of the Local Committees are for the most part gentlemen
with business of their own, who can spare but a few hours a day for
plague work. It is necessary, therefore, to supplement their efforts,
and the District Officer should see that his own inspectors and those of
the Health Department keep a careful watch over all houses. A good
Inspector should know by sight all the people in his charge, and by his
local knowledge and the help of informers should be able to learn at
once of any case of sickness or death.
(d) To have made (where not yet done) and regularly kept up a plague re-
gister of every house in the ward. Every death, whether from plague
or other causes, should be entered in this register, distinguished by red
entries for plague and black for other causes. This is a most important
duty, and special attention should be paid to it. The cause of death as
shown in the cemetery returns is often unreliable, but when the register
shows that a particular house or a particular street has had an unusual
number of deaths, to whatever cause ascribed, special attention should
be paid to that house or street. Information for the register will be
obtained from the cemetery returns, from the reports of Local Com-
mittees, and from information obtained from the District and Health
Department staffs.
(e) To watch the migration of and mortality among rats. Directly an
increase of rats is noticed in any locality, every effort should be made
to destroy them, and any place in which dead rats are found should be
thoroughly disinfected at once.