Withompson
FRIME MINISTER
в туту
the context of the Governor's plan
PED
No hd
to get to Hong Kong senior ministers wh can them impress Hong Kong's achievements alo on the PM-W Ennals makes it almost sound too good to be time!
10. Chantill
5/6
>HKG)
35/Ld Goronwy - Resorts
1 PUS Mr Cortegy!
Mr Murray 12 Prendergart
As you know, I have just returned from a two-week tour of health facilities in China and Hong Kong and I would like to report on some
of my impressions.
7/6
China
I went to Peking, Shanghai, and Canton and was everywhere received with considerable friendliness. My main talks were with Keng Piao,
a Politburo member and Vice-Premier, who apparently supervises the field of foreign affairs, and the Minister of Health Chiang I-chen.
Everywhere I was told that the prime emphasis of Maoist health care was preventive medicine, and certainly public health measures since the revolution 29 years ago have eliminated many if not all endemic diseases and greatly improved the health of the people. They have also made great strides in birth control.
Nevertheless, it is clear that Chinese medical work has both suffered and gained from the effects of the cultural revolution (1966-9). The gain has been the emphasis on spreading medical care to the rural areas, mainly through the system of "barefoot doctors" or paramedics with usually about six months training.
A doctor's six year
The loss was in the field of medical education.
course of training was cut to three years. Only this year has the course been lengthened again, to five years. The study of the best in foreign medicine has again become respectable.
It is here that the United Kingdom and China can develop a mutually profitable relationship. I therefore suggested a series of exchanges to the Health Minister and pressed on him the virtues of our medical equipment and publications. He said that China would like to send more students to the UK and would welcome visiting lecturers. I propose to pursue this matter when one of his vice-ministers arrives with a delegation later this month. I feel confident that there is
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