22419/26
COLONIAL MEDICAL SERVICE.
Extract from Note of a Meeting held in the Colonial Office Conference Room on Wednesday the 6th of January, 1937, between representatives of the Colonial Office and a deputation from the Dominions Committee of the British Medical Association.
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3
5.
MEDICAL PRACTICE IN HONG KONG.
Dr. Macgown said that, from its early days as a
Colony, medical work in Hong Kong had to a very
considerable extent been discharged by the private
practitioner. He urged that this was a most
advantageous situation, which it would be a pity to alter
by throwing upon the Government the full responsibility
for maintaining medical services for the whole community.
But that was the direction in which matters were
developing, for the present policy of the Government
appeared to be aimed at the provision of institutional
treatment on approved lines, not merely for those unable
to pay, but also for those able to pay, reasonable charges.
Persons in the latter class were charged fees for
maintenance and treatment in public hospitals which bore
no relation to the charges which they would have to pay in
private nursing homes; the result was that the private
practitioner and the private nursing home, which at
present could provide fully for the normal requirements
of that part of the population able to pay reasonable
charges, were being driven out of business.
Apart from the general aspects, Dr. Macgown
urged that a change of policy in this matter ought not to
be