HEALTH
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The Medical and Health Department Institute of Pathology main- tains 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.
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 is available in Hong Kong. The service is jointly provided by the staff of the Medical and Health Depart- ment, the University of Hong Kong, and the Anti-tuberculosis and Thoracic Diseases Association. Patients are admitted to the Queen Mary Hospital for preliminary investigation and, if indicated, trans- ferred to the Grantham Hospital for operation.
A ward-unit for organ transplantation has been established in Queen Mary Hospital. The unit has accommodation for four pati- ents and is provided with facilities to ensure a sterile environment for such cases.
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, are developing steadily. The Government now maintains 44 clinics for general outpatients, and specialist facilities are available in the major centres of the urban areas; similar specialist facilities are provided in the New Territories by visiting teams from Hong Kong and Kowloon. Mobile dispensaries and floating clinics take medical services to the more remote areas of the New Territories, while other inaccessible villages are visited by the flying doctor service. In accordance with the Medical Clinics Ordinance, all clinics are required to be re-registered annually. On December 31, 1971, there were 76 registered static clinics and three registered mobile clinics under the control of registered medical practitioners, and 354 clinics registered with exemption, making a total of 433. The Low Cost Medical Care Scheme under which static clinics are set up in reset- tlement and housing estates continued to operate during the year, and in allocating these premises, registered doctors are given priority.
MEDICAL FEES
At government general outpatient clinics there is a nominal charge of $1 a visit, including medicine and such things as X-rays and