320 Central Road P. Bag 5911 Plumtree +263-89-2806077
HOUSING & COMMUNITY SERVICES DEPARTMENT
Director Of Housing Department
Mr H. Moyo
The Housing Section’s Responsibility is as follows:
Allocation of stands i.e. Residential, Commercial, institutional and Heavy industry.
Management of all Housing Related issues such as change of ownership, upkeep of files, preparation of tittle deeds, naming of suburbs and streets and the maintenance of the Housing waiting list.
Environmental Health section is housed under the Housing and Community Services Department. It consists of:
1 Environmental Health Officer
1Works supervisor
6Refuse collectors
9Street cleaners
Environmental Health is responsible for putting in place a proper and function solid waste management system. This includes designing a refuse collection schedule for the town, ensuring adherence in terms of collection and management of the refuse disposal site. Cleaning of streets at the CBD and Border Post is also done by this section. Massive awareness campaigns on waste management are organized through voluntary clean up exercises.
EPIDEMIOLOGY
The Environment Health section is also responsible the administration of health services. Plumtree Town Council has one clinic which offers varied services including, T.B DOTS programme, Voluntary HIV/AIDS testing and counseling, family planning and antenatal care. The EHO is responsible for monitoring communicable disease prevalence in the town to prevent any outbreaks. Prevention of outbreaks is done by determining thresholds for infectious diseases so as to be alert and responsive to any sudden rise of disease prevalence. Prevention of diseases is done by educating communities and council has identified formation of community health clubs as the fastest method of relating disease prevention and control with its community. T.B patients on DOTS programme are also followed up to avoid any defaulting and unaccounted for patients.
PUBLIC HEALTH
The Public health act 15.09 is administered together with other statutory instruments for enforcing public health. The EHO spearheads the public health inspectorate to ensure that the food and meat industry within the town adheres to the set minimum health standards. This is meant to safeguard consumers from buying contaminated or expired goods. Prior to issuing of business trading licences, the inspectorate inspects premises for structural fitness and public health adherence then advises the licensing department accordingly. The EHO is mandated to penalize any operator or individual that fails to abide by the set guidelines.
WATER QUALITY CONTROL
Provision of quality portable water is key to council. Water sampling is done to monitor water quality at regular intervals. Water is sampled for chemical content, bacteriological analysis, turbidity, Ph and residual chlorine levels. At the treatment plant, jar tests are conducted at the beginning of every shift to determine the amount chlorine and aluminium sulphate required to treat water.