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Annexe J.
TUNG WAH HOSPITAL.
REPORT BY DR. G. H. L. FITZWILLIAMS, Inspecting Medical Officer.
Dr. J. C. Thomson was Inspecting Medical Officer throughout the year until his retirement from the public service towards the end of December; I assumed temporary charge of this duty and the data for the following report have been supplied by Dr. Thomson.
BUILDINGS AND EQUIPMENT.
The year has been one of rapid advance in the organisation and equipment of the Tung Wah Hospital. In March all the wards were thrown open by the Directors for the purposes of the clinical instruction of the students of the Hongkong College of Medicine, and the Inspecting Medical Officer became Lecturer on Clinical Medicine to the College. An equipment of clinical apparatus for all ordinary purposes was procured from England, and is now in regular use, with a corresponding improvement in the value of the work being done by the institution.
Three large plague wards and seven private wards have been added to the accommodation of the hospital, and were formally declared open by His Excellency the Governor, Sir F. J. D. Lugard, K.C.M.G., C.B., D.S.O., on the 23rd of December.
New convenient accommodation for a receiving ward has been provided, and the former receiving ward has been transformed into an out-patient department for out-patients desiring European treatment. Out-patients being treated by Chinese methods are seen in the large hall of the extension hospital on the opposite side of Po Yan Street. An improved European dispensary has also been provided.
There is now a well-equipped laboratory, and the office accommodation has been increased considerably.
The hospital kitchen is being rebuilt with new quarters for part of the hospital staff on the floor above it. Arrangements have been made for a complete overhauling of the extension hospital before the Chinese New Year, when all defects and results of wear and tear will be made good.
STATISTICS.
There has continued to be a greater demand for admission to the wards than it has been possible to meet, and many cases that might suitably have been received as in-patients have had to be refused admittance, and treated in the out-patient department. Over-pressure has also had to be relieved repeatedly by the transfer of batches of chronic cases, especially cases of Beri-beri, to a hospital in Canton, by arrangement with the Directors of that institution.
The admissions to the Hospital were 3,723 as against 4,122 for 1908.