Annual departmental report by the Director of Medical and Health Services / Hong Kong.

  • Hong Kong. Medical Department.
Date:
[1962]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Annual departmental report by the Director of Medical and Health Services / Hong Kong. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    12/174 (page 2)
    from Mainland China for the treatment of tuberculosis and other chronic diseases as the opportunity offers and relatives or friends can be found who will provide temporary accommodation. Once in Hong Kong any individual can attend at Government or Government subsidized clinics or hospitals, which provide treatment free or at low cost, without inves¬ tigation as to origin. It is significant that during March 1962, of persons attending the Government Chest Clinics for free treatment of active tuberculosis, 12J% had arrived in the Colony within six months. During the year 1961, 4,987 persons being treated for tuberculosis defaulted from treatment; many could not be traced and 2% of these were describ¬ ed as having ‘returned to village’. This influx for treatment is not a new phenomenon, but it is one that is now being more clearly defined and it illustrates a part of a very considerable additional burden on the already heavily committed curative services provided for the 3,177,700 residents of Hong Kong. 5. The services developed to control tuberculosis, which is the major endemic disease problem in Hong Kong, are now being subjected to a fresh and impartial assessment of the results of the work of the past ten years. This review is being carried out, at the request of Government, by 'the Consultant in Tuberculosis to the Secretary of State for the Colonies, Professor F. R. G. Heaf, C.M.G., and by Dr. Wallace Fox of the Medical Research Council, who was formerly in charge of the Tuber¬ culosis Research Project in Madras. Professor Heaf visited Hong Kong first in 1952 when he reported on the situation existing at that time and made recommendations on the developments then required. 6. Professor Heaf and Dr. Fox have been asked to submit a report covering all aspects of the tuberculosis problem, with particular emphasis on the methods of investigation and research of a practical nature which will facilitate and guide the long term planning of the further measures of control necessary for the elimination of tuberculosis as a community health problem. Dr. Wallace Fox spent five weeks in the Colony in February and March 1962 and Professor Heaf’s visit took place during April 1962. 7. The pressure on hospital beds has not eased, particularly in Kowloon. Some indication of the demand is given by the work of the Casualty Department of the Kowloon Hospital which attended to an average of 9.8 casualties every hour throughout the year. Traffic accidents, industrial accidents and accidents in the home constitute the heaviest load. Some additions have been made to the Kowloon Hospital