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HONG KONG ANNUAL REPORT
A number of welfare organizations maintain free or low cost dental clinics, many dentists giving their services free of charge for this purpose. The Hong Kong Dental Society also operates free evening clinics at two centres in Hong Kong and one in Kowloon. The St. John Ambulance Brigade Penetration Squads pay weekly visits on Sundays to remote areas of the New Terri- tories where dentists give emergency treatment.
The first industrial dental clinic in Hong Kong, opened by the Hong Kong Tramways in 1958, was in full use throughout the year. The Church World Service started a Mobile Dental Service in the New Territories during 1959 and the Christian Children's Fund established a dental clinic in its Orphanage Hospital at Wu Kwai Sha.
The Government Dental Scholarship Scheme continued and seven students were awarded scholarships to study in Australia. At the end of the year there were 26 students abroad, 20 in Australia and 6 in Singapore. Since the Scheme began in 1954, nine students have qualified and returned to practice in the Govern- ment Dental Service, five of them in 1959. Two further women Dental Surgery Assistants were given World Health Organization Fellowships to train as Dental Nurses in Penang. Three others are already under training and one qualified Dental Nurse has returned and is employed in the School Dental Service.
URBAN SERVICES
The Urban Council, whose constitution is described in Chapter 25, has statutory responsibility for bathing beaches, swimming pools, cemeteries, crematoria, mortuaries, the collection and dis- posal of refuse and nightsoil, the inspection and health control of domestic premises and food establishments, food hygiene and sampling, markets, hawkers, parks, playgrounds and urban ameni- ties, pest control, public latrines and bathhouses and slaughter- houses. The Council is empowered by the Public Health (Sanitation) and the Public Health (Food) Ordinances, and other enactments, to make by-laws for the regulation and control of these matters, subject to the approval of the Legislative Council. The whole of this legislation has been revised and incorporated in a new and comprehensive Public Health Bill, with subsidiary legislation, which awaits introduction.