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HEALTH
the BCG vaccination programme and during the year 96 per cent of babies born in the Colony received BCG vaccination within 72 hours of birth. It is believed that the widespread use of this pro- phylactic has led to the precipitate fall in tuberculosis in the very young in Hong Kong.
The cornerstone of treatment in Hong Kong is ambulatory chemotherapy on an outpatient basis. The position with regard to the treatment of tuberculosis in the last 15 years has changed completely, and the disease can now nearly always be cured provid- ed that the patient is co-operative and takes his treatment regularly.
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The previous monthly issue of PAS/Isoniazid tablets has now, in a large proportion of cases, been replaced by a regimen of twice weekly Streptomycin injections and high dosage Isoniazid tablets. This has the advantage that it is a completely supervised regimen whereas it is known that some patients did not take their drugs regularly when they were issued on a monthly basis. At present a large scale trial with the Medical Research Council to evaluate the effectiveness of standard chemotherapy in Hong Kong is almost complete and analysis of the results is under way. A further trial to evaluate the most effective drugs for the treatment of resistant cases was started in April and is also well under way. The regimens being evaluated include new and most promising drugs.
A close examination of the actual functioning of the Chest Service, known as the Hong Kong Treatment Survey, began in September and it is now believed that the results of all these in- vestigations will within the next few years revolutionise the approach to the treatment of tuberculosis in Hong Kong.
With the improving efficiency of the Chest Services and the decreased patient load, there is now an obvious need for more emphasis on case finding. During December a one-week anti- tuberculosis publicity drive was launched.
The Colony has 1,788 beds available specifically for the treatment of tuberculosis. The Government provides 146 of these beds in Kowloon Hospital and St John Hospital on Cheung Chau Island, but the majority are in government-assisted hospitals, notably those managed by the Hong Kong Anti-Tuberculosis and Thoracic