HEALTH
97
of Maryknoll Hospital and the Duchess of Kent Children's Ortho- paedic Hospital and Convalescent Home. Several receive substantial government subventions, and in recent years some of the hospitals underwent major extensions to provide improved and additional facilities.
SPECIALIST SERVICES
In government hospitals there are clinical specialists in various medical fields. There are also specialised clinics for tuberculosis and social hygiene, together with specialist services offered by the Government Chemist's Laboratory and the Forensic Pathology Laboratory. The Medical and Health Department Institute of Pathology maintains clinical pathology and public health laboratory services. The Queen Mary and Queen Elizabeth Hospitals maintain blood banks and the Hong Kong Red Cross Society operates a blood-collecting service for voluntary blood donation; laboratory work for these blood banks is carried out by the Institute of Pathology.
ד
Open heart surgery for the treatment of various types of congenital and acquired heart diseases by the pulmonary by-pass technique using the heart-lung machine became available in Hong Kong in the middle of 1968, although open heart surgery employing a different technique had been used earlier. The combined efforts of the Medical and Health Department, the University of Hong Kong, the Anti- tuberculosis and Thoracic Diseases Association and some private individuals have made this project possible. Patients are admitted to the Queen Mary Hospital for preliminary investigation and, if it is indicated, transferred to the Grantham Hospital for operation.
A ward-unit for organ transplantation was established in Queen Mary Hospital. The unit has accommodation for four patients and is provided with facilities to ensure a near sterile environment for cases undergoing organ transplantation.
OUTPATIENT CLINICS
To meet the increasing demand for treatment by modern Western medicine, the outpatient services, provided mainly by the Govern- ment, and also by subsidised organisations and private agencies,