HEALTH
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whether registered or registered with exemption, are required to be re-registered annually. The Ordinance also prohibited the re- registration with exemption of any mobile clinic after December 31, 1967, and these have been replaced with properly equipped clinics in resettlement and low-cost housing authority estates. In allocating these premises registered doctors are given priority.
DENTAL SERVICES
The Government Dental Service undertakes complete dental care for all monthly-paid government officers and their families and offers a limited treatment programme for inpatients of government hospitals, prisoners and inmates of training centres. The service also provides emergency treatment for the general public at certain clinics. There are 30 government dental clinics, including one mobile unit which supplements static clinic facilities.
Fluoridation of Hong Kong's urban water supply began in 1961 and most of the population now receives water which has been treated with sodium fluoride or sodium silico-fluoride. The rate of enrichment is one part of fluoride per million throughout the year. It is considered that this measure has already brought about a reduction in the prevalance of dental caries, particularly among children, and that this benefit will be more marked in the future.
Many voluntary bodies and welfare organizations, particularly the Hong Kong Dental Society and the St John Ambulance Brigade, maintain free or low-cost dental clinics and many dentists give their services free. The Church World Service, the Lutheran World Service and Caritas operate fully-equipped mobile dental clinics.
OPHTHALMIC SERVICE
Based upon three full-time outpatient centres, including one in the new Yau Ma Tei Polyclinic, equipped with operating, investigation and treatment rooms, this service operates on a sessional basis in the urban areas and in the outlying districts of the New Territories. Additionally, ophthalmic surgery is performed in two government hospitals in which 30 beds are reserved for ophthalmic cases. The staff of the Ophthalmic Service also deal with ophthalmic emergen- cies at three casualty departments situated at the Queen Mary, Queen Elizabeth and Kwong Wah Hospitals.
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