276. Of the total casualty attendances, 21.4% were admitted to the hospital, 8.1% were referred to other hospitals for admission and 70.5% were treated and sent home. It was noteworthy that the commonest type of attendance was for an industrial hand injury.
Kowloon Hospital
277, For the greater part of the year until the opening of the Queen Elizabeth Hospital, the Kowloon Hospital continued to serve as the main casualty and emergency receiving cemre for Kowloon and the New Territories, an area with a total population of approximately 24 million. The casualty department maintained a 24-hour service, no to the 17th December, 1963, when its facilities were transferred to the Queen Elizabeth Hospital and an average of 12.8 casualties were seen every hour of that period.
278. As in previous years, the hospital was under continuous pressure, particularly from emergency admissions, and its 574 beds had to be considerably augmented by the widespread use of camp beds in wards and on verandahs; in addition, the high rate of patient turnover recorded during the last few years was perforce maintained. Table 41 sets out the work of the hospital over the past five years.
TABLE 41
KOWLOON HOSPITAL. 1959–63
1962
Maternity cases admited
1959
3,646
General inpatients (excluding
Maternity)
Total O.F.D. AttendancE
1900 1907
1963
4,372 4,695 4.437 4,638*
13,242 16,052 19,102 24,895 24,754+ 547,628 $69,682 671,912 635,679 523,056
Casualty Attendance (including in
above figure)
1 Pr
71,627 80,333 86,218 97,246 107,499T Operations (excluding minor cases)......... 6,571 7,584 9,257 11.748 10,728 Mortality (Expressed in % of
admissions).......
5.5
6.4
6.5
up to 11.12.63.
† up to 17.12.43.
7.6 5.89
279. The large outpatient department adjacent to the hospital provides facilities for general cases; this department continued to function after the transfer of the other facilities to Queen Elizabeth Hospital. In addition, specialized clinics were held at the Specialist Clinic situated in the grounds of the Queen Elizabeth Hospital.
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280. Medical, general surgical, orthopaedic, paediatric, obstetric and gynaecological and ear, nose and throat units were maintained, each under the clinical direction of a Specialist or of a Senior Medical Officer with a higher qualification. Other services included diagnostic radiology, pharmaceutical and surgical supply, clinical pathology, physiotherapy, almoning and a blood bank. A Principal Medical and Health Officer was Medical Superintendent, assisted by a Hospital Secretary, and all professional and other staff were provided by Government,
281. As in previous years, the medical unit continued to admit a large number of acute medical emergencies, particularly gastric haemor- rhage resulting from peptic ulcer or cirrhosis of the liver. The number of acute cerebro-vascular accidents continued to rise rapidly and, by the time that the hospital's facilities were transferred, rehabilitation and disposal of recovered cases had become a serious problem. This had been accentuated by the need for a quick turnover and by the domestic housing problems facing the greater proportion of the population.
282. The two general surgical units continued under increasing pressure, in particular due to emergencies admitted through the Casualty Department. During the year, the number of emergency cases admitted to surgical wards was eight times greater than the number of elective cases admitted through the specialized clinics.
283. As would be expected under the existing conditions of over- crowding and rapidly-increasing population, the orthopaedic unit con- tinued to deal mainly with traumatic cases which accounted for 85% of the total orthopaedic admissions; of the remainder, two-thirds were acute orthopaedic cases (c.g. acute sciatica, tuberculosis of joints and severe sprains), while the other third was composed of other types of orthopaedic conditions.
284. Following the opening of the Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Kowloon Hospital, apart from the general out-patient department, closed to enable renovations to be undertaken as certain of the buildings are over thirty years old. On the completion of these, the hospital will re- open in its new role of a subsidiary of the Queen Elizabeth Hospital for the care of patients who have passed the acute stage of their illness but who still require a period of convalescence or rehabilitation before returning to normal life. In addition, a certain number of beds will be allocated for persons suffering from tuberculosis; these will be for three categories of patients, namely, those suffering from emergency com- plications of the disease, those requiring surgery for either pulmonary
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