HONG KONG ANNUAL REPORT, 1952
The public health services include Port Health administration, preventive inoculations, maternal and child health, school health, malaria control, tuberculosis and general health education. An anti-venereal diseases service is also operated.
The investigation division consists of a pathological institute in Victoria and another in Kowloon, a clinical laboratory at the Queen Mary Hospital, the chemical and bio-chemical laboratories and the public mortuaries.
General Health
With the exception of one isolated case of smallpox, early in the year, no major disease occurred which required quarantine provisions. There was, however, a considerable increase in the incidence of such notifiable infectious diseases as enteric fever, diphtheria and tuber- culosis. There was also an increase in the number of cases of malaria. These increases can be attributed in part to the general overcrowding in the urban areas and the unsatisfactory sanitary conditions in the squatter colonies. There was, however, a reduced incidence of cerebrospinal meningitis, poliomyelitis, chickenpox, whooping cough and bacillary dysentery.
Maternity Services
Certain beds in Government hospitals are set aside for maternity cases and additional facilities are provided by private maternity homes, the number of which increased during the year. The total number of maternity beds in the Colony had increased from 940 in 1951, to 1,023 at the end of 1952. Private maternity homes are registered and supervised in accordance with the provisions of the Nursing and Maternity Homes
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