In June 1883, I was informed that the Secretary of State had been pleased to sanction that my Hospital accommodation for patients should be increased. The same letter informed me that Mr. Marques was to retain the charge of the Small Pox Hospital and, in another paragraph, that I was to be relieved from all outside medico-legal work, except special cases in which the coroner might deem it necessary to summon me.
Since June 1883, I have been in sole charge of the Civil Hospital and of the Small Pox Hospital; and, to the best of my recollection, I have attended no inquests except for persons dying in Hospital under suspicious circumstances. The outside medico-legal duties have always since then been performed by Mr. Marques, a qualified surgeon, as his regular work.
On several occasions, a Cholera Hospital has been opened at Stone-cutter's Island, a distance of three miles, and Mr. Marques has left Hong Kong to take charge of it, outside Post Mortem Examinations and the medico-legal work attending them being performed by an outside practitioner.
The Public Mortuary is about a mile to the west of the Hospital, and the law courts about a mile to the East, and as last year 184 bodies were examined and reported on, many of which were the subject of inquests and criminal proceedings, it is evident that if I carried on these duties, the Civil Hospital would be very seriously neglected.
This seems a sufficient reason for my having been relieved of these duties.
In November 1880, the Naval Deputy Inspector General of Hospitals and the Military Deputy Surgeon General were requested by the Government to report whether the work of the Civil and Small Pox Hospitals, and the outside Post Mortem examinations and medico-legal duties attending them could be performed by one medical officer.
They reported: "The question naturally arises, can one medical officer with justice to those whose lives are committed to his care, and a due regard to his own mental and physical condition, necessarily tried by professional anxiety and climate, be expected to fulfil these multifarious duties unaided?"
"We are of the opinion that it is not advisable, with a due regard to the interests at stake, to allow the whole responsibility and strain to devolve on one medical officer."
Since this report in November 1880, Hospital accommodation has been increased from 83 to 98 beds, and the number of patients admitted has risen from 1091 in 1880 to about 1600 in 1886. The receipts from paying patients, about $5000 in 1880, will this year exceed $10,000.
In 1872, when I was first appointed, the admissions were 938 and the receipts were under $1,000.
The bodies examined in the Public Mortuary were 103 in 1887 and 184 in 1885, and the Mortuary has been removed to a distance from the Hospital.