HEALTH
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Where a patient is unable to pay the medical fees, provision has been made that the charges can either be waived or reduced at the discretion of the Director of Medical and Health Services.
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 parts of water; the cost per person receiving fluoridated water is 13.5 cents per annum. It would appear from clinical observation that this measure has already brought about a reduction in the prevalence of dental caries, particularly among children, and that this benefit will become more marked in the future.
Many voluntary bodies and welfare organisations, 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 static and mobile dental clinics.
OPHTHALMIC SERVICE
Based upon three full-time outpatient centres, 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 per- formed in two government hospitals in which 31 beds are reserved for ophthalmic cases. The staff of the Ophthalmic Service also deal with ophthalmic emergencies at three casualty departments situated at the Queen Mary, Queen Elizabeth and Kwong Wah Hospitals.