I now pass to a brief consideration of the evidence on which the Commissioners founded their report.
Firstly with regard to the Sanitary condition of the Hospital, I think the evidence of Drs Ayres, Atkinson & Lawson clearly shows that while a year or two ago the Tung Wa Hospital was little short of a danger to the Public Health, it has now considerably improved, and I believe that if proper supervision is maintained and the following measures (mentioned in the evidence of Commissioners' Report) are introduced, little will be left to be desired at the Tung Wa Hospital from a sanitary point of view. Cleanliness, sufficient ventilation, etc. should be insisted on. All these sanitary measures appear to me not only to be most highly desirable in themselves but also eminently expedient as they are not likely to seriously irritate the Chinese.
I now come to the most difficult question in the whole enquiry, viz., the medical and surgical treatment at the Hospital. We have on the one hand the evidence of Dr. Lawson, who thinks this treatment amounts to malpractice under sacrifice of life and sometimes almost manslaughter, & on the other hand the evidence of Drs. Ayres and Atkinson, who prove that it can be improved by:
(1) Cases of infectious disease should not be admitted (Index / 55)
(2) Surgical & Medical wards should be kept apart, as patients suffering from open sores make the wards unhealthy for others: cases of septicemia or acute blood poisoning are a danger. (fr. 53 Index)
(3) Those mentioned in (2) should not be admitted to the ordinary Wards again. The Wards should be heated with stoves and ventilated. (p. 32, W: 166)
(4) Certain Wards called Kowloon Wards are clearly ill-occupied; more patients should be put there.
(5) The water-carriage system should be introduced (22 W: 3).
(6) The Hospital should be well-supplied with water (20 to: L(x)--71793----3000- -96).
On the other hand, we have the evidence of the Chinese Board of Directors, who seem to be entrenched in their opposition to interference with the present system, stating that little interference will be sufficient to check the flow of Chinese contributions, and that very drastic interference will make the existence of the Tung Wa Hospital an impossibility. The present Chinese treatment is undoubtedly a quack one: the evidence before the Commissioners...