Health > Intergovernmental conference of Far-Eastern countries on rural hygiene : preparatory papers : report of the Philippines

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ing thirty with a total bed capacity of 428, which are under the
Division of Maternal and Child Hygiene. There are forty-five
of these institutions, classified as follows : thirty-six general
hospitals, six emergency hospitals, two contagious diseases
hospitals and one psychopathic hospital, with a total bed
capacity of 3,948. With the exception of the San Lazaro
Hospital for contagious diseases, which is in the City of
Manila, the others are located in the capitals and important
towns of the various provinces. They are, of course, of varied
sizes, depending upon the importance and financial ability
of the respective provinces in which they are established. The
total cost of their annual operation is approximately 1,354,204
pesos,1 paid by insular, provincial and municipal funds.
The number of public dispensaries, unattached to hospitals
and directly supervised by presidents of sanitary divisions,
under the jurisdiction of this division is 1,063. These are generally
located in each municipality and remote barrios of every
province.
The operation of the above institutions takes care of the
curative, and partly preventive, activities of the Bureau of
Health in the preservation of public health.
For these curative and preventive activities, the Bureau of
Health spends a total of 3,149,311.17 pesos—1,076,200.61
pesos for the curative and 2,073,110.56 pesos for the
preventive.
SANITATION AND SANITARY ENGINEERING.
Owing to local conditions and circumstances, some of which
may be mentioned—economic capabilities of the people, their
educational and cultural attainments, their habits and customs,
and certain environmental factors peculiar to given localities—
little difficulty has been encountered in satisfactorily maintaining
an adequate water supply, particularly to rural communities.
Fortunately, there is a public water supply for the City of Manila,
administered by the Metropolitan Water District but under the super-
1 One Philippine peso = r-54 gold francs = ^0.101, according to
the average rate of exchange for 1936. — Editor.