year. The University of Hong Kong has been producing dactors of a high standard of training for many years; nurses trained in many hospitals in the Colony can, by passing the Incal examinations, received full recognition by the Nursing Council of the United Kingdom. This, however, is by no means all. Candidates for the Membership of the Society of Radiographers can now sit their examinations locally; the X-ray department at the Queen Mary Hospital has been recognized as a training centre for the Diploma in Radiology; similar recognition has been given by the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynae- cologists to training for the Diploma of Membership in the Tsan Yuk and Queen Mary Hospitals; candidates receiving most of their training in the Colony have been successful in obtaining the M.R.C.P., F.R.C.S., F.F.A.R.C.S. and other diplomas. The list is a long one, and it is yearly growing longer. This past year a start has been made in the training of Mental Nurses, and soon it is hoped to train Physiotherapists locally.
297. In spite of all this, or in some cases because of it, it is still necessary to send selected candidates abroad to receive specialized training, for teachers of a high standard are needed. Again, the new Kowloon Hospital (of 1,800 beds) will call for an increase in specialized staff. During the past year members of the staff have been abroad studying, amongst other things, surgery, mental discases, mental nursing, anaesthetics, physio- therapy, radiology and public health. Dentistry in particular has accounted for a large number of scholarships, for as yel there is no school in the Colony.
298. In all these schemes of training the University of Hong Kong has naturally played a large part. The Queen Mary and Tsan Yuk Hospitals are the main centres of training for medical students in medicine, surgery and obstetrics, and the University professors and lecturers are included among the staff of both institutions. In this way, students receive the benefit of train- ing from both University and Government staff and the Govern- ment service benefits from the experience of the University staff. On five of whom hold positions as Consultants to Government. the other side of the ledger, many Government officers act as part-time lecturers in the University.
299. Co-operation between Government and University is not limited to staffing hospitals and training medical students.
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There is also the question of post-graduate training. Both Government and University have schemes for such training, but every effort is made to ensure that these schemes do not overlap or compete with one another. For this reason a Panel on Post- graduate Education has been formed, with representatives of both University and Government. Meetings have been mosl amicable, and much is being done to co-ordinate this important subject.
Nursing Training.
300. An important part of the work of the Medical Depart. ment is the training of nurses (male and female) and midwives. The major nursing training schools are attached to the Queen Mary Hospital and the Kowloon Hospital, while the main school for training midwives is the Tsan Yuk Hospital. Excellent schools of nursing are also provided at the Tung Wah Group of Hospitals and the Alice Ho Miu Ling Nethersole Hospital, insti- tutions independently run but largely assisted by Government, and the Hong Kong Sanatorium and Hospital, a private institu- tion. Owing to the gradual increase in the nursing establish- ment over the past few years, particularly as a result of recruit- ment with a view to training staff for the new Kowloon Hospital, a greater number of nurses are graduating each year.
301. In this important sphere of activities the year has been one of steady progress, although there is little specifically new to report. The recruitment and training of student nurses, both male and female, continues satisfactorily, both for the normal expansion of the department and for the new Kowloon Hospital.
302. The policy of the promotion of locally trained nurses to higher posts continues. Five have been promoted to the grade of Sister during the year. I am glad to say that relationships between local and expatriate staff continue to be excellent.
Health Visitors.
803. The second Health Visitors' Training Course with an enrolment of ten specially selected candidates was successfully completed in September 1956. All ten sat for and passed the examination held under the auspices of the local Examination Board of the Royal Society for the Promotion of Health, London.
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