PUBLIC HEALTH
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Health Centres. The results of this prophylactic treatment will be carefully observed for one year.
Midwifery services both for domiciliary and maternity home cases are provided by 43 Government midwives. They delivered 11,779 cases during the year and of these approximately one-third were home deliveries.
During the year 32 additional maternity beds were provided in newly-built New Territories clinics at Tai Po and on Lamma Island. Registered midwives in private practice who do little domiciliary maternity work delivered 35,608 cases during 1957, mainly in private maternity homes; these premises are regularly supervised as to records and sanitary standards.
Free smallpox and B.C.G. vaccination is offered-as a routine-for new-born infants delivered by all midwives.
School Health Services. The School Health Service continued to be limited to participants who had been in this service since October 1955 as it was not possible to cater for the ever-increasing numbers of new entrants to schools. The school population is somewhat over 300,000, and a full medical and health service for such a number would require staff and facilities beyond the present resources of the Medical Department. During the year a working party considered plans for a reorganized service which might make use of a subsidized private practitioner School Health Service scheme.
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Industrial Health. The health of workers in factories and other industrial undertakings is cared for by the Industrial Health Section of the Labour Department, which is staffed by an Industrial Health Officer on loan from the Medical Department, an Assistant Industrial Health Officer, and a Technical Assistant.
The work of the section falls into two main divisions: the prevention of occupational diseases and the improvement of medical facilities in factories. The most serious diseases met