– was dormant for 20 years

THE Mayor and City Council (M&CC) are re-introducing a batch of Environmental Health Assistants for the city, and eight persons have commenced the one-year training in this regard. The training would be done by the Ministry of Public Health.

The Environmental Health Assistant programme was dormant for some 20 years. This resulted in an acute shortage of staff for the Environmental Sanitation Section of the Mayor and City Council. And because of this, many business persons and residents were found to be violating the Public Health Ordinance, which stipulates that the owners and occupiers of business premises are to keep their premises in a state to promote the health and well-being of those who dwell therein.

The Environmental Health Assistants and Officers are responsible for carrying out routine systematic and scavenging inspections, and for enforcing the Public Health Ordinance. The ordinance addresses issues such as overgrowth on premises, overhanging trees, refuse receptacles, dirty yards, absence of roof gutters and rearing of large quantities of poultry and cattle, etc.

Persons who violate the Ordinance would be served with notices, and if they fail to comply within the period stipulated on those notices, they would be prosecuted.

As the Council engages various communities, there is a resounding call for return of the Environmental Health Officers. While some people clean and maintain environmentally friendly spaces, others facilitate the breeding of vectors and rodents by the manner in which they keep the environment.
The Mayor and City Council was the first organisation that started training of Environmental Health Assistants (EHA). This training would improve the staff strength and increase the capacity of the Public Health Department to address environmental health concerns.

From 2016, the Council would be involved in the training of Environmental Health Assistants

Environmental awareness
The Georgetown Municipality hosted an Environmental Empowerment afternoon for primary school students in the city yesterday. The main focus was to help children have the right attitude in contributing to a clean environment at a young age, and in the end making the city a better place in which to live.