HEALTH
therapy service, in particular, aim to provide continual care and treatment pro- grammes for discharged mental patients in their home settings. This assists patients' social readjustment while educating them and their families on mental health. Five community psychogeriatric teams have been set up to provide designated care and rehabilitation programmes to psychogeriatric patients. There are 12 community psychiatric nursing service centres. Other complementary rehabilitative services include day-centres, half-way houses, long-stay care homes, vocational training, selective placement and social clubs, run by government departments and non- government organisations.
Severely mentally handicapped persons requiring intensive nursing care and rehabilitation services are cared for at Tuen Mun Hospital (200 beds), Caritas Medical Centre (300 beds), the Duchess of Kent Children's Hospital (25 beds) and the Siu Lam Hospital (300 beds).
Community Nursing Service
The Hospital Authority's Community Nursing Service (CNS) provides rehabilitative nursing care and treatment to the sick, the elderly infirm and the disabled. The service is provided through a network of 37 CNS centres. During the year, 22 683 patients were served and 321 446 home visits were made.
Port Health
The Port Health Service is the control authority for preventing the entry of quarantinable diseases into Hong Kong by air, land or sea. It enforces the measures stipulated under the Quarantine and Prevention of Diseases Ordinance and inter- national health regulations. Surveillance measures at the airport and other entry points were strengthened after an outbreak of Ebola virus infection in Zaire, to prevent its introduction into Hong Kong.
Radiation Health
Inspectors of the Radiation Board carried out 850 on-site radiological safety inspections on medical, commercial and industrial premises in 1995. The centralised radiation monitoring service of the Radiation Health Unit monitored the radiation exposure of 5 880 workers. It detected an average individual occupational dose of 0.2 millisievert against a regulatory limit of 50 millisievert. The Environmental Radiation Monitoring Programme detected no significant change in the background radiation level in Hong Kong during the year.
The unit is collaborating with the Environmental Protection Department in commissioning a consultant project to set up a low-level radioactive waste storage facility. Work to condition the waste currently in store in the Queen's Road East Tunnel storage facility is continuing, in preparation for its transfer to a new facility
the end of 1996.
Medical Charges
Health promotion and preventive care services are generally free. Under a policy that nobody should be denied adequate medical treatment through lack of means, other medical charges (especially for hospital treatment) are heavily subsidised. Fees are reviewed regularly.
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