PUBLIC HEALTH
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propositions. No figures are available as to the numbers of patients treated at these clinics, the standards of which vary very considerably.
In general, therefore, as regards the curative services available to the population of the Colony it may be stated that a high standard of treatment is provided at low cost in certain institutions but that, at present, such treatment is still not available nearly as widely as, ideally, it should be. Like most other problems in Hong Kong this position arises from the fact that the population has grown at a rate far beyond the resources available. Having said this, it should also be emphasized that the Medical Department is in the midst of a very wide scheme of expansion, unpre- cedented in the medical history of the Colony. The new Kowloon Hospital of 1,300 beds is expected to be completed in 1961, the new Mental Hospital is in course of construc- tion, other hospitals are planned, and out-patient facilities are expanding at a very rapid rate.
HEALTH SERVICES
Port Health. The Port Health Administration is re- sponsible for the prevention of the importation of infectious diseases into the Colony by sea, land and air, for the sanitary control of the port area and airport, for the carry- ing out of the provisions of the International Sanitary Regulations and the Quarantine and Prevention of Diseases Ordinance, for the compilation of epidemiological statistics and reports and for the planning and supervision of anti- smallpox, anti-diphtheria, anti-typhoid and other immuniza- tion campaigns. The staff consists of health officers and inspectors, public vaccinators and a fumigation bureau.
The recently amended International Certificate of Vaccina- tion or Revaccination against Smallpox was adopted for official use in the Colony from 1st October, 1957.
For the fifth year in succession the port remained free from any of the quarantinable diseases.