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THE PRESIDENT-Do you think it would be better to have blankets?--Most cer- tainly. We used to have these coverlets in India, but they have now been abandoned for blankets, which can be washed from time to time, and it would be the best thing possible to induce the Chinese in the Tung Wa Hospital to make use of blankets.
Mr. WHITEHEAD--Would it not be well to have a reserve stock of bedding and clothing?There should be enough in store to give a change either once or twice a week.
Have you gone into the question of cubic space for each patient?-The way to fix that is to paint on the door of the ward the number of the ward, the number of the patients it is to receive, and the cubic space for each patient, so that when the inspector visits the Hospital, he would have no difficulty in seeing if the regulations were being followed.
THE PRESIDENT-With regard to your visits to the Hospital, did you find it clean? --I think so; it depends very much on how you are trained. I have been twenty years in India, and I know the difficulty, when speaking of native races, of keeping them up to a European standard of cleanliness. I have spoken already of the enormous number of commodes. Many of them were quite uncalled for and unnecessary.
Apart from clothing, did you think the Hospital clean?-Considering my Indian experience, I should say it was. I was not shocked. In two or three days, however, without interfering with Chinese prejudices, it could be very much improved. The Tung Wa Hospital wants reforms, but it is not absolutely bad.
Mr. WHITEHEAD--Were the native hospitals in India, of which you have spoken, under European supervision ?--I never heard of a purely native managed native hospital in India, and I have never seen the ruins of any native hospitals in India. In every Native State there is an English resident surgeon detached from the Army, and he is attached to the hospital as a representative of the Government, and has a large voice in dealing with the administration of the hospitals. I have never had experience of hospital work similar to the Tung Wa Hospital. Passing from the structure one comes to the doctors. The same problem you have here was set in India and has been solved. The English found a very strong prejudice amongst the Brahmins on religious grounds, but these prejudices have been conquered. The old men have died out and the people have been educated up to the English standard by founding medical schools at Calcutta, Bombay, Madras, Patna, Agra, Lahore and Nagpore.
The train-
How were these hospitals established?-Directly under State control. ing of the young medical men is entirely in the hands of the State. The principal medical officer of the Civil administration, a man corresponding to your Dr. AYRES, is ex-officio the director of the school.
THE PRESIDENT-Are the lecturers Government officers? That is not essential, but they are, as it happens. It is the same in India as in Hongkong. You must have two or three men working together in order to provide for furlough, just as you have Dr. HARTIGAN, Dr. RENNIE and Dr. STEDMAN working together here. In a tropical climate the work of individuals acting alone perishes. You require a larger organization.
Mr. WHITEHEAD—Your opinion is that in Hongkong, in order to overcome the native prejudices, every endeavour should be made to teach the youths Western medical science? That opens up the question of the Chinese medical school. I should call it the Hongkong medical school, and put it in the Government Civil Hospital under Dr. AYRES. There a young man would have the opportunity of coming in contact with English Sisters and English, Indian and Chinese patients, and not Chinese only. In my ideal school, Dr. AYRES should be the principal, another Government officer should be the Secretary, and you should appeal to any other medical men in the town to take up special branches and teach the students. It would give the College permanency of existence.