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Registration of Births and Deaths.
35. With regard to the registration of births and deaths the position has vastly improved and now practically all the deaths and the great majority of the births are being registered. This applies not only to the urban districts but to the New Territories where until 1932 registration was a dead letter. Instead of having to be chased to register their births the people are now insisting on it having got to know that registration has no disadvantages and many advantages, With the change of the law the cumbersome methods formerly in vogue gave place to others which were more simple and with regard to post registration less expensive.
Year.
1928
1936
Birth registration.
9,309 27,383
Port Health.
Death registration.
14,735 26,356
36. The Port Health Branch which now includes a fumigating and disinfecting plant is entirely different from what it was in 1929. Then it was inefficient, now it is efficient and up to date. In 1929 there was one quarantine anchorage which was so shallow that no ship drawing twenty feet of water could use it with safety, the result was that none of the large vessels went there. They were examined at the wharf where the crowds swarming on board made proper examination impossible. There is now a special quarantine anchorage in deep water on the way to the wharf. Fumigation and disinfection was done by a private company, it is now done by the department. Hong Kong is now an adherent to the International Sanitary Convention, then it was not. To-day the branch deals efficiently not only with sea quarantine but with air quarantine. The officers of this branch are doing excellent work.
Vaccination.
37. Vaccination is being well attended to in this Colony. The lymph is all prepared at the Bacteriological Institute and issued to the various public vaccinators free of charge. The Government vaccinators are members of the Port Health staff. They perform their operations both at the vaccination centre next to the Harbour Office, on ships and anywhere they are sent. The Chinese Public Dispensaries get paid ten cents for every vaccination done there. As they are also birth registration centres a great many infant vaccinations are done there. Vaccinations are carried out by the Government midwives, also at all Government hospitals and dispensaries. Every year the St. John Ambulance Brigade carry out a campaign in the streets and do a great deal of good in persuading people to be done. They also do propaganda work in the New Territories. Private practitioners can purchase fresh active lymph at small cost.
Social Hygiene.
38. The Venereal diseases branch is doing very good work. There are now four centres three of which are planned on model lines and the fourth will soon be brought into line with the others. The staff consists of a Venereal Diseases Health Officer and an assistant Venereal Diseases Medical Officer a European Technical Assistant, four dressers and a nurse. Three Chinese Lady Medical Officers assist where necessary. In 1929 there was no proper centre and no staff.
Maternity and Child Welfare.
39. At the end of 1928 there was no maternity and infant welfare branch and the number of registered midwives was 135 including 7 in Government service. Now there is such a branch under a Lady Medical Officer assisted by two Chinese lady medical officers and seven fully qualified Chinese nurses. There are two centres, one at the Violet Peel and the other in Kowloon. Both are well
patronised and the numbers attending are steadily increasing. It is intended that there shall be a third centre established as soon as the financial position permits. There are at present 404 fully qualified midwives on the roll including 15 in Government service. There are seven midwifery schools which prepare candidates for the Midwives Board examinations. Recently an ordinance was passed making maternity homes registrable. Fifty homes have already been registered and fifty more will shortly be added to the list.
School Hygiene.
It was
40. The school medical Branch is at present housed in the Violet Peel Health Centre in the offices intended for the district Health Officer and his staff. formerly housed in offices in the education building but had to shift owing to the accommodation being required by the Director of Education for his staff. In 1929 there was one Lady Medical Officer for schools and one school nurse, now the staff includes the School Health Officer, two Chinese school medical officers and five school nurses. There being altogether 75,000 school children the staff is insufficient to deal with the whole.
41.
Bacteriological Institute.
Activities at the Bacteriological Institute have greatly increased since 1928. According to the returns the number of examinations and investigations have increased over four fold. This is in part due to increased desire on the part of clinicians to have their diagnoses confirmed by laboratory findings, partly to the establishment and growth of specialist branches dealing with malariology, venereal diseases, infant welfare, school welfare and rural hygiene, and partly to increased effort on the part of the staff to engage in medical research. Accommodation has been increased by enclosing verandahs and in making greater use of the basement Very good work is being done in this institution.
The Malaria Bureau.
42. The Malaria Bureau which was established in 1930 has done excellent work. The Malariologist and his assistants have produced results which have had far reaching effects on the health and comfort of those living in mosquito infested areas. We now have a much better knowledge of the mosquitoes frequenting Hong Kong, where they breed and on which animals they prefer to feed. We also know which are the principal carriers of malaria and the factors favourable for their propagation. Minimus and Jeyporiensis have been proved to be the most potent carriers, not maculatus as was formerly believed. Maculatus abounds in the Colony but it prefers the blood of cattle and pigs to that of man, Many thousands of anophelines have been caught and dissected and the results tabulated. Many authorities on malaria have visited the Bureau and all have been struck by the results obtained.
43. The Peak is now free of the plague of mosquitoes which formerly caused such annoyance and necessitated the use of mosquito curtains. The Europeans living at the select resort called Shek O were so pleased with the work done that they presented Mr. Deb with a gold watch. For the first time in history they have been able to sleep without nets.
44. During the construction of the Shing Mun Dam, a work carried out in what was known to be one of the most malarious districts in the Colony, the labour force averaging 2,000 daily, never had more than three per cent absent from sickness. Most of the credit for the freedom from malaria must go to the Malariologist and his staff.
45. The Bureau is doing all the anti-malaria work in connection with the construction of the Royal Air Force aerodrome in the New Territories. So far the results have been excellent and there is every reason to believe that the works will be completed without trouble from sickness.
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