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will then be able to trace contacts and take all the necessary preventive
Vice versa, measures to contain the outbreak locally within the region.
any useful epidemiological findings emerging from investigations by the health team are made available to the medical officers attending their patients. Routine investigations of problems and complaints in the hospitals and clinics can also be dealt with more quickly and effectively without undue reference to Headquarters.
In regard to the second aim, regionalisation may be called rationalisation, i.e. rationalisation of the resources so that facilities are provided where they can be best used, that resources are not unnecessarily duplicated and that one service complements another.
For the individual patient, regionalisation also offers a more convenient and efficient service. The patient will normally be first seen in a general out-patient clinic and if found to be in need of specialist attention will be referred to a specialist in a polyclinic serving that region and within reasonable distance of his home. If in-patient treatment is necessary, the patient will then be referred to a district hospital in the same region or to the regional hospital depending on the level of treatment required. Subsequently, when his condition permits, he will either be discharged home or may be transferred to a non-acute bed for convalescence in a district hospital.
By judicious use of all resources available and under the control of management on the spot, it is hoped to relieve congestion in the regional hospitals and to make better use of under-utilised facilities in some district hospitals. Under this scheme it is also possible to spread more evenly the case loads between Government and Government-assisted hospitals and in this way provide a more balanced service in each region based upon the regional hospital. In accordance with this principle a determined effort is now in progress to eliminate the use of temporary beds in the Queen Mary Hospital and the Queen Elizabeth Hospital. I may add that this practice of using temporary beds is a very old one and has been plaguing us for as long as one can recall, most certainly from the time when I first set foot in the Queen Mary Hospital as a medical student more than twenty years ago. With this all-out effort and the goodwill and cooperation of all concerned, we should be able to solve this classic problem in our two major hospitals by the end of the year.
In the implementation of this scheme, there will be certain areas where it is necessary to upgrade facilities and increase staff. To this end, to relieve congestion in the Queen Mary Hospital, some 130 beds at the Grantham Hospital are being made available for the Hong Kong University Medical and Orthopaedic Units Further, some 106 additional beds at the Tung Wah Hospital are being made available for the University Surgical Unit. The relevant proposals are being considered by Finance Committee later this afternoon.
To relieve congestion in the Queen Elizabeth Hospital and to make better use of the facilities that already exist in Kowloon, the Buddhist and Pok Oi Hospitals have been brought into operation at the Buddhist Hospital.
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