HEALTH
Apart from attending out-patient clinics or day hospitals, patients may be visited at home by specially-trained community psychiatric nurses. The Community Psychiatric Nursing Service aims to provide continuity in after-care treatment programmes for discharged mental patients, to assist them in social readjustment and to educate the patients and their families in mental health. There are now seven centres accepting referrals from hospitals and psychiatric out-patient clinics, and four more centres have been planned. Other complementary rehabilitative services include day centres, half-way houses, long-stay care homes, vocational training, selective placement and social clubs offered by various government departments and voluntary agencies.
Severely mentally-handicapped persons requiring intensive nursing and medical treatment are cared for at the 200-bed Siu Lam Hospital and at the 300-bed unit in the Caritas Medical Centre. A further 704 beds in this category have been included in the Medical Development Programme to meet the continuing need.
Special Services
The Pathology Service provides both clinical and public health laboratory services for government hospitals and clinics, and a consultant service for the subvented sector. It also administers hospital mortuaries and blood banks.
The Forensic Pathology Service with its fully-established forensic laboratory works closely with the Royal Hong Kong Police Force on the medical aspects of criminology and other medico-legal work. It also performs investigations in all homicides and coroner's cases. The public mortuaries are under the administration of the service.
The Virus Unit is the central laboratory for the diagnosis and surveillance of viral infections including AIDS. It provides laboratory support for the screening, assessment and guidance of vaccination programmes against viral diseases. Moreover, its Institute of Immunology undertakes the monitoring and quality control of biological products, including vaccines for use in the local health services.
A Central Neonatal Screening Laboratory was established in 1984. Its main function is to co-ordinate the laboratory activities of the territory-wide neonatal screening programme on congenital hypothyroidism and glucose-6-phosphate-dehydrogenase deficiency.
The Institute of Radiology and Oncology comprises two major divisions, the Diagnos- tic Radiology Division and the Radiotherapy and Oncology Division. The Diagnostic Radiology Division provides a diagnostic organ-imaging service. The Radiotherapy and Oncology Division provides comprehensive radiotherapy programmes and a chemotherapy service for cancer patients. The division also operates a cancer registry covering the whole territory.
During 1989, regular visits were made by the staff of the Radiation Health Unit to medical, commercial and industrial premises to inspect the working conditions of radiation workers. The unit also issues radiation licences to the proprietors in accordance with the Radiation Ordinance and Regulations. It assisted in the Background Radiation Moni- toring Programme organised by the Royal Observatory to establish an accurate baseline of the background radiation levels in Hong Kong.
The Pharmaceutical Service of the Department of Health is made up of two divisions, with a total establishment of 250, including 27 pharmacists. The first division provides pharmaceutical service to all government clinics. The second division deals with the inspection and licensing of pharmaceutical manufacturers and dealers and the registration and import-export control of pharmaceutical products and medicines. Action is taken against the illegal sale and distribution of pharmaceutical products and medicines, and
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