HEALTH
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beds available, admissions during the year again increased by 15.4 per cent. This was achieved by using camp beds in wards and on verandahs and by shortening as far as was possible the time spent in hospital. The building of the Queen Elizabeth Hospital, which will have 1,350 beds, is going ahead according to the time-table and this new institution will be opened during the third quarter of 1963. The re-development of the new Kwong Wah Hospital in Kowloon is also proceeding rapidly and it is anticipated that the 1,270 beds planned will be in use by the end of 1963.
The Anne Black Health Centre was opened in September and provides general out-patient, maternal and_child health and mater- nity home services in the North Point district of Hong Kong Island. The clinic is named after Lady Black, the wife of His Excellency the Governor, as a tribute to the devoted service she has given to the people of Hong Kong. The building of the clinic was in- stigated by Dr Tang Shiu-kin and other Chinese benefactors, who subscribed half the capital cost, the remainder being met by Government.
At the Queen Elizabeth Hospital a specialist clinic donated and built by the Royal Hong Kong Jockey Club was also opened in September by Dr Douglas Laing, on behalf of the stewards of the Jockey Club. The clinic will be the centre in Kowloon to which patients can be referred for a consultant's opinion. Specialist out- patient clinics will be maintained by the clinical units in the Queen Elizabeth Hospital.
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Vital Statistics. In 1962 the total of live births showed a slight increase on the figure for 1961. A total of 111,905 live births were registered as against 108,726 in 1961. The live birth rate dropped slightly from 34.2 to 32.8 per 1,000 of population. The crude death rate remained constant at 5.9 per 1,000 and there was a natural increase of 91,581 persons during the year. A table showing the principal statistics and rates over the 10-year period 1953 to 1962 is at Appendix VII.
The infant mortality rate dropped to 36.9 per 1,000 live births, the neonatal mortality rate was 21.2 per 1,000 live births and the stillbirth rate was 13.7 per 1,000 total births. There were only 54 maternal deaths and the maternal mortality rate was 0.48 per 1,000