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Chinese Member of the Government Medical Department on its resident staff. authority in administrative control is a Committee of Chinese Gentlemen elected each year by the subscribers.
The hospitals were originally established to give accommodation to those in- digent Chinese whose fears and prejudices against Western methods of medicine prevented their applying for relief at the Government Hospitals. Through educa- tion and through mixing with Europeans these prejudices have, to a considerable de- gree, subsided and today there is a decided demand for scientific medicine. At the present time there are in each hospital two sections, viz., that for Chinese or her- balist treatment and that for scientific or modern treatment. The patient is given his choice.
In addition to the three hospitals abovementioned there is an Infectious Dis- eases Hospital at Kennedy Town which is run entirely by the Committee. There is nothing in the law giving the Health Authorities of the Government any jurisdiction · over this hospital or over the treatment and isolation of cases therein.
The Tung Wah has done an immense amount of good work and has been of incalculable benefit to Hong Kong both in the way of relief of the poor, as a medium for propaganda and the spread of health education and as a medium between the health authorities and the masses.
THE CHINESE PUBLIC DISPENSARIES.
The Chinese Public Dispensaries, eight in number, were established for the purpose of supplying medical advice and treatment on western lines to out-patients. Situated in the most thickly populated districts they fulfil a most useful purpose, not nly in the matter of treatment but also as foci for the spread of knowledge concern- ing the causes of disease, the means of spread and the value of scientific treatment both for prevention and cure.
Each Dispensary is controlled by a separate Committee of Chinese gentlemen who work in close touch with the Secretary for Chinese Affairs and each is in direct charge of a Chinese Medical Practitioner qualified in Western Medicine.
THE CHINESE MATERNITY HOSPITALS.
There are two Chinese Maternity Hospitals which are under the same organ- isations as are the Chinese Dispensaries One at the eastern end of the town and the other in the western district. In the former the clinical authority is a Resident Chinese Doctor; in the other the Professor of Obstetrics and Gynaecology of the University of Hong Kong.
THE GOVERNMENT VISITING MEDICAL OFFICERS TO CHINESE HOSPITALS AND DISPENSARIES.
There are three officers of the Government Medical Department whose whole time duty it is to visit the various Chinese Hospitals and Dispensaries and give ad- vice and assistance. These officers keep in close touch with the Secretary for Chin- ese Affairs.
THE UNIVERSITY AND THE PUBLIC HEALTH.
The University of Hong Kong, which is the body controlling the education of Medical Students in Hong Kong, is a corporate body whose connection with the Government Medical Service lies in the fact that some fifty per cent of the beds in the Government Civil Hospital have been placed at the disposal of the University Clini- cal Units for the treatment of patients and the teaching of students. In addition to these facilities for education the University Clinic has also charge of the out-patients department of this institution, and of the clinical side of the Tsan Yuk Chinese Mater- nity Hospital.
THE MISSIONS AND THE PUBLIC Health
There are a number of Missionary organisations in Hong Kong whose activities for medical relief are of very considerable importance in the matter of the Public Health. They work quietly and unostentatiously and do a great amount of good,
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THE Y M.C.A., Y.W.C.A., ST. JOHN'S AMBULANCE ASSOCIATION AND BRIGADE, Boy Scouts AND GIRL GUIDES,
The Y.M.C.A.. the Y.W.C.A., the St. John's Ambulance, the Boy Scouts and the the Girl Guides are all organisations which exercise a beneficial influence on Public Health, and which are ever ready to cooperate with the Government Authori- ties in matters connected with the prevention of disease.
THE B.M.A. AND THE C.M.A.
The British Medical Association and the Chinese Medical Association, com- posed entirely of medical men qualified in scientific medicine, are two bodies whose power for promoting cooperation in the Public Health interest can hardly be exag- gerated. Their numbers include private practitioners, University Professors and Government Servants.
RÉSUMÉ.
An analysis of the present position and of past history shows that the Sanitary Board and the Sanitary Department never have functioned respectively as a Public Health Board and a Public Health Department,
The chief role of the Sanitary Board has been to voice public opinion and to act as an advisory committee to its Chairman the Head of the Sanitary Department.
The Sanitary Department has in practice been a town cleansing and nuisance department such as in most cities is under the Sanitary Engineer.
In matters dealing with town cleansing, scavenging, conservancy, and night- soil and refuse disposal, there can be little criticism of the methods employed by the Sanitary Department.
In matters connected with control of infectious disease and prevention of spread of communicable disease other than measures of routine cleansing it has done very little. Infective cases have, in the majority of instance escaped detection and consequently there has been little or no disinfection of premises.
sence.
Measures against mosquito borne diseases have been conspicuous by their ab-
Common lodging houses are rarely inspected and bake houses and eating houses receive scanty attention.
Dairies are rarely inspected and the condition of the markets leaves much to be desired.
With regard to diseases common to animals and man there has been very little of that cooperation between the Veterinary Surgeons and the Bacteriologists and Pathologists which is a prominent feature of all up-to-date Health Departments.
The Sanitary Department has practically no say in the sanitation of houses other than that connected with cleanliness and overcrowding.
All the remaining public health matters concerning buildings are entirely in the hands of the Public Works Department.
Neither the Sanitary Board nor the Sanitary Department have any say re- garding the water supplies to the people. They can close domestic wells but the pro- tection of the water catchment areas, the filtration processes and the chemical treatment of the water--probably the most important of all factors having a bearing on the public health-all these are entirely the concern of the Public Works Depart-
ment.
In actual fact the Sanitary Department today corresponds to the nuisance pre- vention department of an English city of 1875; the H.S.D. to the clerk to the Council and the M.O.H. to its Chief Nuisance Inspector.
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