tion into the epidemiology of nasopharyngeal carcinoma, the common- est cancer among Hong Kong men.
OPHTHALMOLOGY
167. This service maintains three full-time centres with surgical facilities, and in addition, holds regular sessions at 15 out-patient clinics in urban and rural areas. Ophthalmic surgery is performed in two government hospitals with a total of 36 beds for ophthalmic cases as well as in out-patient clinics, Emergency ophthalmic services are also available at the three casualty departments in the Queen Mary, Qucen Elizabeth, and Kwong Wah hospitals.
168. During the year, the number of persons first registered as blind was 224, including 17 aged under 15. Trends of previous years in the causation of blindness continued, with increasing frequency of the eye diseases of advancing age, and a reduction in those caused by deficiency states and trauma. Senile cataract and glaucoma replaced keratomalacia as the predominant causes. Among children, the main cause of blindness was congenital defect, while blindness due to kcratemalacia was comparatively rare.
EAR, NOSE AND THROAT SERVICE
169. Table 66 shows statistics collected by clinics run by the ear. Bose and throat service at various centres, and also hospital cases taken care of by the consultant surgeon and his staff. Under the consultant surgeon are also an audiometric unit and a speech therapy unit. The former handles diagnostic hearing tests on patients referred by qualified E.N.T. surgeons in Hong Kong, and the latter treats all patients referred by registered doctors, with defects and disorders of voice, articulation, fluency, and so on, except cases of severe deafness in children. The latter are taken care of by the hearing and speech centre of the Education Department.
PHARMACEUTICAL SERVICE
170. This sub-department meets the requirements for drugs, dress- ings, surgical instruments and hospital sundries of all government hospitals, clinics, and health centres, including government-subsidized medical institutions. Headed by the chief pharmacist, it has a staff of 24 pharmacists and 192 dispensers. As a result of the renovation of the Central Medical Store in North Point, the major manufacture of pharmaceutical products, except for tabletting, was carried out solely
at the Kowloon Medical Store. The work of this new manufactory has been completed. It will be ready for full operation as soon as it is equipped.
171. The other responsibility of the chief pharmacist is the en- forcement of the law pertaining to dangerous drugs, pharmacy and poisons, and antibiotics. During the year, 107 prosecutions were taken out, and all resulted in convictions. Examinations for the registration of pharmacists were held as usual in June and December. A total of 34 candidates sat, but only seven passed.
MEDICAL SOCIAL WORK
172. The expansion of the medical and health services, and the increasing emphasis on rehabilitation in its various aspects, continued to make heavy demands on the services of medical social workers who have been enjoying good team-work with the other professional members of the medical and health team. The trend of moving from basic material and financial assistance to the giving of more and more attention to the problems, or factors, that have led to the need for assistance, has called for more sophisticated social work knowledge, discipline and skill, so as to help the handicapped and the chronically- ill to re-integrate into society with a role and a task which can give them dignity and social status. The allocation of about 100 beds at the Grantham Hospital as convalescent beds for cases from the Queen Mary Hospital resulted in an extension of the service to patients transferred there. Medical social workers of the Hong Kong division also undertook medical social work in the Tsan Yuk Hospital, the Sai Ying Pun Infectious Disease Hospital and Jockey Club Clinic, the Tang Shiu Kin Hospital, the Duchess of Kent Children's Orthopaedic Hospital, the Tung Wah Sandy Bay Convalescent Hospital, the David Trench Rehabilitation Centre. the Wan Chai Physiotherapy Centre, the Violet Peel Polyclinic, the Eye Services of the Yau Ma Tei, Violet Peel and Yuen Long clinics, and the Mount Parish School for Mentally Sub-normal Children. Wan Chai.
173. The medical social service of the Kowloon division which covers medical social work of the Queen Elizabeth Hospital, the Kowloon Hospital, the Lai Chi Kok Hospital, the Kowloon Rehabili- tation Centre, the Queen Elizabeth Specialist Clinic, the Cancer Wing of the Caritas Medical Centre and three out-patient departments in Kowloon, continued to provide service to an increasing number of
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