HOSPITALS
262. By the end of 1961 there were 40 civil hospitals and nursing homes in Hong Kong with accommodation for 9,464 beds. In addition there were private maternity homes which contained a total of 480 beds for normal midwifery. Details of the accommodation available are ser out in Appendix 10. Of the civil hospitals 14 are maintained by Govern- ment and 11 are managed by voluntary agencies receiving recurrent subventions from Government. There are 10 private hospitals and 5 nursing homes. An analysis of the work done is at Appendices 9 and 11. 263. One new hospital was opened in the Wong Tai Sin district, the Maryknoll Hospital of 61 beds which is run by the Maryknoll Sisters. This is the first phase of development and will be followed by a second phase giving accommodation for an additional 50 paediatric beds. It also has a large general outpatient department.
264. Extensions to existing hospitals were opened or put into use during the year as follows:
Beds available at 31.3.61
Kowloon
Kwong Wuh Hospital
Hospital
413 beds
534 beds
Additional beds during year ended
31.3.62
161 beds
Bods available at 31.3.62
$74 beds
$19 beds
1.153 beds
Kowloon Hospital
GOVERNMENT HOSPITALS
265. This is the main casualty and emergency receiving centre for Kowloon and the New Territories, serving a population of just over two million. The Casualty Department maintains a 24 hour service and an average of 9.8 casualties were seen every hour throughout the year. A total of 86,218 attendances at Casualty was recorded of which some 52% were due to trauma: 1.1% of the total attendances were due to industrial injuries, the majority of which were hand injuries.
266. There were 19,459 admissions to the 526 beds and the average daily bed occupancy state was 547. This was possible only through the use of camp beds in wards and on verandahs; the number of camp beds in use varied from 126 to 27. The average duration of stay was 7 days. Table 22 below sets out the work done during the past five years.
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Maternity)
TABLE 23
KOWLOON HOSPITAL 1957-61
Including Casualty and Outpatient Departments
1937
1958
1959
1960
1961
Maternity Cases
2,861
3,472
3,646
4,372
4,749
General Inpatients (excluding
7.819
10,695
13,242 16,052
19,459
Total Outpatient attendances Casualties attended (included in
above figures) ..
$47,026
538,010 $32,492
547.597
605,654
51.986
70.191
71.627 80.333
86,216
Operations (excluding minor
OOCs)
4,984
5,704
6,571
7,584
9,257
5.6
6.2
5.5
6.4
6.3
Mortality (expressed as per-
ceouage of admissions) 267. The major outpatient clinic in the hospital grounds, adjacent to the Casualty Department, maintains general and specialist clinic services.
268. There are medical, general surgical, orthopaedic, paediatric, obstetric and gynaecological and ear, nose and throat units. Each unit is under the clinical direction of a Specialist or of a Senior Medical Officer with a higher qualification. Other services include diagnostic radiology, pharmaceutical and surgical supply, clinical pathology, phy- siotherapy, almoning and a blood bank. A Principal Medical and Health Officer is Medical Superintendent, assisted by a Hospital Secretary, and all professional and other staff are provided by Government.
269. The medical unit continued to admit largely medical emer- gencies particularly patients with peptic ulcers and cirrhosis of the liver who presented with gastric haemorrhages. The numbers of acute cerebro- vascular accidents is rising sharply and there was again a marked in- crease in admissions from this cause which totalled 136 in 1961 com- pared to 107 in 1960 and 66 in 1959. The imperative need for a quick. turnover of beds so that emergencies can be admitted poses a serious problem of the rehabilitation and disposal of recovered cases for whom adequate home accommodation is rarely available. The relatively few convalescent beds in the Lai Chi Kok Hospital are now used largely for cases fit for discharge from Kowloon Hospital but requiring more comprehensive nursing care than is normally given in a convalescent hospital.
270. There are now two general surgical units in the hospital each headed by a Specialist. To meet the emergency and trauma needs the two operating theatre suites are working on a 24 hour basis and an
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