Έκθεση του νομίατρου Γ. Παπανικολάου για την Χαλκιδική

Abstract

he report of Doctor George Papanikolaou, head physician of the prefe­ cture, is sent to the prefecture administrator of Thessaloniki, because in the year 1914 when the report was written, Chalkidiki was under the admini­ strative command of Thessaloniki.

According to the report, public health conditions in Chalkidiki were not good. Besides, due to the morphology of the terrain, there were swamp grounds in the area of Vassilika, in Kalamaria, in Kassandra, as well as in Sithonia, because of which the people residing in the areas were seriously exposed to malaria. The water supply network of the villages and towns were either rudimentary or non-existent. A number of villages got their water supply from uncovered wells; the water contained impurities for a number of reasons, but primarily, because the local people, being either land or cattle farmers in their majority, used to raise a lot of cattle that drank out of these water wells. However, contagious diseases were not widespread. Physicians in the central and southern parts of the penninsula were ten (10) in number.

In every town and village there used to operate one or two schools, but most of the school buildings were inappropriate for this use. Transport and road systems were ghastly.

In general, the image that Chalkidiki presented right after liberation from Ottoman-Turkish rule bore close resemblance to that of any other non-urban territory in Greece, let alone the fact that at a distance of only 7 kilometers from Thessaloniki, at the farm school, there used to be swamp land that extended over several kilometers. For these reasons the information in the report presents particular interest.