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The bulk of the work was done by standing in the streets and vaccinating the passers-by and by house to house visitation. I think great credit is due to the band of helpers—included in them are the European staff and interpreter at Hung Hom and Yaumati Police Stations, Sanitary Inspectors, etc.—who worked very hard with me in addition to performing their normal duties.
With the exception of this outbreak the year has been a healthy one. Only five cases of plague were recorded at the Public Mortuary as compared with 14, 79, and 248 in the three preceding years.
At the Public Mortuary 1,503 post-mortems were performed as compared with 1,278 and 980 in 1915 and 1916 respectively. The increase is partly due to 154 cases of small-pox and partly to the rapid expansion of the district.
During the year 18,751 rats were examined being 265 less than last year. Eleven were found to be plague-infected as compared with 29 and 76 in the two previous years.
The dispensary at Tai Po Market treated 1,402 people during the year, the figures being an increase over the figures of the two previous years which were 393 and 307 respectively.
The British schools and missionary establishments have been visited regularly and all scholars and inmates examined and reported on. These reports are forwarded—when necessary—to the parents for compliance with my remarks which mainly concern the condition of the teeth, throat, and eyes. This procedure has resulted in a marked improvement in the condition of the children's teeth and—as a natural sequence—their general health. New inmates of the missionary establishments were vaccinated in December.
KOWLOON DISPENSARY.
The dispensary has moved from the Medical Officer's house to new quarters at No. 24 Nathan Road, on the 15th September. The new premises are commodious and have proved themselves very suitable.
It is again satisfactory to note that the Chinese aversion to Western medicine is becoming very steadily less marked. Whereas last year about one-third of the patients attending were Chinese, their numbers, this year, constitute well over a half of our total.
The figures for the year show a large increase over those of the previous years. The total cases treated number 9,406 as compared with 7,003 and 5,353 in 1916 and 1915. In addition 197 physical examinations were carried out, and 3,219 vaccinations performed at the dispensary, making a grand total of 12,852 as compared with a total of 12,726 in 1916, the latter figures however include 5,522 vaccinations.
The number of prescriptions dispensed shows an increase of 56—5,390 as compared with 5,334 last year.
During the year 126 ambulance cases—European and Chinese—were removed to the hospitals in Victoria and 66 Chinese cases to the Kwong Wa Hospital.