HI SCR107

Legislature requests the Department of Health to require that each district health officer be a physician licensed to practice medicine under Hawaii Revised Statutes Part I of Chapter 453.

Resolution cites the Department of Health's long-standing practice of having physicians serve as district health officers in the three neighbor island counties.

Points to discrepancies in the Department's disease outbreak response between County of Hawaii (non-physician district health officer) and County of Maui (physician district health officer), including 2002 dengue fever and rat lungworm disease outbreaks.

References Office of the Auditor Report No. 17-14 (December 2017) which found the Disease Outbreak Control Division exhibited "an absence or a lack of adherence to plans, policies, and protocols" during disease outbreaks.

Certified copies of the resolution shall be transmitted to the Director of Health and the Chairperson of the Hawaii County Council.