Medical Physics
252. This section, under the immediate direction of the Senior Physicist, assists in the planning and development of radiotherapeutic procedures, provides a radiation protection service and prepares radium and radio-isotope appliances. In addition, it operates a workshop which undertakes the maintenance, repair and calibration of all Government radiological and physics equipment and produces numerous gadgets for the improvement and development of radiological techniques.
DENTAL SEKVICE
253. The Government Dental Service, under the direction of the Senior Dental Specialist, provides a general dental service for the Civil Service and a School Dental Service. In addition, emergency dental treatment is given to patients in Government hospitals, in Her Majesty's Prisons and at certain of the Government out-patient clinics.
254. There was a rapid expansion of the general service during the year, seven new dental clinics, comprising thirteen surgeries, being opened. Of these, the most notable was a three-surgery clinic, situated in the Central Government Offices, which incorporates a number of innovations including high volume suction apparatus designed and made in Hong Kong. The expansion of the work can be seen in Table 30.
TABLE 30
WORK OF THE GENERAL DENTAL, SERVICE
1939
7960
Dental Surgeries
16*
Attendances by Government Officers
27,026
*** 39,018
Attendances by Dependants of Governmen
Servants
27,615
42,216
Attendances by General public
19,907
24,789
Total attendances
74,548
106,023
Fature includes one mobile unk used panty for School Dezmal Services.
255. Six school dental clinics are maintained for participants in the School Health Service. Although the proportion of fillings compared to extractions continues to rise, over nine thousand extractions were necessary during the year. It is confidently expected that this indication to the extent of dental caries in children in Hong Kong will be con- siderably reduced in a few years' time as a result of the fluoridation of the Colony's water supply.
256. Delays continue to occur in starting routine inspections and treatment in persons not suffering from emergency dental conditions.
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Even greater delays occur in the provision of prosthetic appliances. owing to the shortage of dental technicians. The appointment of a qualified Dental Technologist during 1960 and the establishment in December 1960 of a course of training in dental technology, for six students annually, at the Hong Kong Technical College should materi- ally improve this situation in the near future.
Dental Services provided by Welfare and Missionary Organizations
257. A number of welfare organizations maintain free or low-cost dental clinics, many dentists in private practice giving their services free of charge for this purpose. The Hong Kong Dental Society also operates free evening clinics in the urban areas. The St. John Ambulance Brigade opened a dental clinic in its Hong Kong Headquarters' building for the treatment of under-privileged children by civilian and military dentists who give their services without charge. Two mobile dental clinics provide free or low-cost dental treatment for poor people in the New Territories, in resettlement areas and in orphanages; one unit is maintained by the Church World Service and the other by the Lutheran World Service.
Control of Dental Practice
258. Two Dental Inspectors were employed throughout the year in connexion with the supervision and control of private dental practice, including regular inspections of premises. There were fourteen prosecu- tions for alleged dental practice by unregistered persons, and seventeen individuals were convicted of this offence.
OPHTHALMOLOGY
259. This Service, under the direction of the Ophthalmic Specialist. operates two full-time centres, one on Hong Kong Island and one in Kowloon. It also holds regular sessions in number of urban and rural clinics. In addition, the Mobile Ophthalmic Unit, maintained by the Hong Kong Branch of the British Red Cross Society for work in the New Territories, was staffed during the year by members of the Service. Operative procedures have been limited to a certain extent by shortage of beds, but much surgery is now carried out in the operating theatres of the two main clinics, the patients being followed-up by Health Visitors. During 1960, over eighty per cent of the operations performed were on an out-patient basis and the complications arising have not exceeded those that would be expected after comparable surgery in hospitals. Refraction clinics are maintained for participants in the School Health
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