7
Health
HOL
THE development of medical and health services took another step forward in 1977 with the introduction of a programme that will provide, over the next seven years, more than 4,600 new hospital beds, five clinics, two polyclinics, two health centres, a second medical school and a dental school.
The first major hospital project to be completed will be a psychiatric wing at Princess Margaret Hospital, where the general block was opened in 1975. The new wing will provide 1,300 beds by 1980. A 1,400-bed hospital at Sha Tin, supported by a poly- clinic and a general clinic, is expected to become operational during 1982-3. The Tuen Mun Hospital, due to be completed in 1983-4, will provide 1,200 beds and be supported by a polyclinic. A further 700 hospital beds also will become available through other projects. Four more general clinics and two health centres are to be built in other areas of Kowloon and the New Territories.
Hong Kong's second medical school is to be established at the Chinese University of Hong Kong. The first pre-clinical intake will be in 1981 and the school will even- tually 'produce 100 doctors a year. The new hospital at Sha Tin will serve as the teaching hospital.
At the University of Hong Kong, which has had a medical school since the univer- sity's foundation in 1911, it is planned to establish a dental school in 1980. The first 60 dentists are expected to graduate in 1985.
A training school for dental nurses will be opened in Sai Ying Pun in 1978, with the first batch of graduates joining the dental service in 1980. It is envisaged that five dental clinics for school children will come into operation by 1985.
A third general nurses' training school is planned for a site adjacent to the Princess Margaret Hospital at Lai Chi Kok. It will have an annual intake of 150, beginning in 1982-3.
All these projects will require additional para-medical staff and, to ensure that qualified staff are available, a Health Services Division is being established at the Hong Kong Polytechnic to provide training courses. The first of the many courses to be run will begin in 1978.
Further development of rehabilitation services for the disabled also is planned. A Green Paper outlining recommendations for the next 10 years was published for public comment in 1976. The views received led to the publication of a White Paper in October, 1977.
Medical and health services in Hong Kong are the responsibility of the Medical and Health Department. To make more efficient use of hospital beds and medical