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The total number of cases, new and return, treated at the dispensaries has risen from 40,175 in 1909 to 55,614 in 1910. The establishment of these dispensaries was first suggested by Sir James Lockhart in 1892 when he was Registrar General, in a memorandum which was attached to the annual report for that year. The number of infants brought to the dispensaries shows an increase, and the number of vaccinations performed is 50 per cent. more than in 1909. The total expenditure on the dispensaries was $42,861.
An analysis of the returns giving the number of infants brought to the dispensaries in Victoria, shows that confidence in them is unchecked. At West Point there were fewer dead infants brought and more live ones, in the Central one or two more of each class, at the Eastern Dispensary there were no live infants but a few more dead. The number of cases in which the address from which the infant is brought is not stated, is less both in the Eastern and in the Central Dispensaries. The total number of children under 5 years of age brought for treatment to all the dispensaries was 7,262.
The new dispensary building at Hunghom was completed at a cost of $2,935, and opened by me on the 16th July. The event was celebrated by a tea-party.
Quarters for the coolies and accommodation for the ambulance and dead-vans have been built at West Point near the District Plague Hospital and Dispensary, at a cost of $1,275. Theatrical performances were held in August at the Taiping Theatre to secure the necessary funds, and realised $7,500. The disposal of the balance will be considered later. The building was completed during the year.
At Wanchai, a dispensary and district plague hospital are being built at a cost of $11,500. Subscriptions to the amount of $4,105 were raised by the end of the year, and a theatrical performance held on the site in April realised nearly $3,900.
The Secretary of State approved of the sale to the Dispensaries Committee of a piece of land 554 square feet in area adjacent to the Central Dispensary. Quarters for coolies and sheds for the ambulance and dead vans will be built here in 1911.
The annual grant of $2,000 to the District Plague Hospitals was divided as follows: $800 to each of the hospitals in Victoria, $330 to the hospital at Hunghom, and $70 to the one at Kowloon City.
No occasion has arisen to use the hospitals this year.
The number of bodies abandoned has dropped from 381 to 268. This reduction of 30 per cent is the more gratifying, as the number of deaths among the Chinese in 1910 was greater than that in 1909. The percentage of bodies abandoned to deaths in 1910 is 3.6 against 5.4 in 1909 (Table XVIII).
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