Government Laboratory
The total mumber of items examined in 1975 constituted an all- time record of 92,130, an increase of 22,875 over the previous year. The workload increased out of all proportion to the mumber of specimens received due to the acquisition and application of new skill and techniques. In the general division for the examination of food, liquors and pharmaceuticals, the workload increased by 67.5%. This enormous increase was mainly attributed to the examination of 13,421 samples of Chinese vine for the presence of methyl alcohol after several fatalities involving this toxic substance were reported.
Nursing
VII.
OTHER SERVICES
The total number of staff in the nursing and allied grades was 5,551 who undertook duties throughout Hong Kong in all the government hospitals and clinics as well as in the health services.
The nursing service had benefited by the return of nursing Personnel who had successfully completed overseas courses of instruction in nursing education, orthopaedic and spinal injuries marsing, neurological pursing, central surgical supplies technique, dietetics and intensive care.
Pharmaceuticals
There were 28 pharmacists and 202 dispensers of all grades who served all the government hospitals and clinics. The Kowloon Hedical Store was moved to a temporary structure in the Kowloon Hospital Compound from its former site near the Polytechnic.
48 prosecutions were instituted under the Dangerous Drugs, Poisons and Antibiotics Ordinazices. A Registration and Licensing Section had been established to enforce the Pharmacy and Poison Regulations (1975) for the registration of pharmaceutical product and the licensing of local pharmaceut- ical manufacturers, Examinations for the registration of pharmacists were held in June and December, only 7 out of 35 candidates passed.
Medical Social Work
The rapid expansion of the medical and health services and the increasing emphasis on rehabilitation continued to make heavy demands on the medical social service. The Principal Medical Social Worker was in overall charge of the five divisions of the service with a total staff of 99 working in the various hospitals and clinics.
Physiotherapy
The demand for physiotherapy continued to increase once again particularly for the severely handicapped and those requiring intensive carTE. In 1975, 79,355 patients were given a total of 761,189 treatments, an increase of approximately 12% over the previous year.
Occupational Therapy
There were altogether twelve units in the service which covered both inpatients and outpatients. There was an increased demand for services in government hospitals as well as outpatient centres.
Prosthetic-Orthotics
The increase in industrial and traffic accidents had created additional work for the staff. In order to meet the increasing demand, research and development undertaken during the year included : (1) functional. hand prostheses and (ii) ankle-foot orthoses.
Narcotics and Drugs
A Marcotics and Drug Administration Division headed by an Assistant Director was created to co-ordinate and superviss various activities such as treatment and rehabilitation of drug addicts, research programmes and health education «
After the completion of the initial phase of the Methadone Treatment Pilot Scheme four methadone treatment centres were established, each with a maximum capacity to treat 1,000 outpatients. Up to the end of March 1976, the total mumber of patients registered at the four centres vas 6,284.
VIII GOVERNMENT ASSISTED HOSPITALS
The Government provides financial assistance anmally to 22 hospitals/institutions with a total of 7,849 beds. The total subvention for the year 1975-76 was $160,442,518 recurrent and $4,071,202 special expenditure. Table 75 gives a summary of the subvented amount to each individual organisation.
In March, 1976, the Centenary Building of the Tung Wah Hospital was opened and 160 beds were put into use. The remaining beds in this Building will be put into operation as soon as the repair work of the slope behind the Building is completed.
In line with the recommendation in the Hedical White Paper to secure a more even use of hospital beds, a further 79 beds making a total of 180 beds in the Buddhist Hospital were allocated for patients transferred from Queen Elizabeth Rospital for convalescence.