HEALTH
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OUT-PATIENT CLINICS SERVICE
To meet the increasing demand for treatment by modern Western medicine, the out-patient services provided by Government, by subsidized organizations and by private agencies are developing steadily. Many charitable and missionary clinics provide treatment either free or at a nominal cost. Numerous organizations, partic- ularly the Royal Hong Kong Jockey Club, have taken an active interest in medical and health problems. A large number of out- patient clinics are supported by Kaifong, District and Clansmen's Associations; industrial and commercial concerns and trade unions also operate clinics for their members.
During recent years, however, there has been concern over the rapid multiplication of private clinics. Many were staffed by persons who possessed, or claimed, qualifications not registrable in Hong Kong and a number were operated for profit rather than service. To control this situation, the Medical Clinics Ordinance was en- acted in September 1963 and brought into force on 1st January 1964. It makes provision for the registration, control and inspection of clinics, and the Registrar of Clinics, who is the Director of Medical and Health Services, is empowered at his discretion to register those which were in existence at the date of enactment of the Ordinance even though they were not in the charge of a registered medical practitioner; this power is for a period of three years only. By the end of the year, 701 applications for registration had been received, of which 433 had been granted, 266 refused and two were still under consideration.
Four new government clinics have been opened and Government now maintains forty out-patient clinics. Specialist facilities are available in the major centres in the urban areas and, in the New Territories, the same facilities are provided by visiting teams from Hong Kong and Kowloon. Mobile dispensaries and floating clinics bring medical services to the more remote areas of the New Terri- tories, especially the isolated villages on the eastern and western coasts. A helicopter takes doctors and nurses to the more inacces- sible areas.
DENTAL SERVICES
Until September 1964 the Government Dental Service had operated, in two divisions, a General Dental Service and a School