M 51
The first recorded case in Kowloon occurred on 15th February. The last case recorded during the year was on 11th December.
Of these recorded cases, 173 were treated in hospitals, mainly the Kwong Wah Hospital, where special accommodation was made for them; the remainder being found amongst bodies sent to Kowloon Mortuary, i.e., dumped bodies and bodies from the Chinese Public Dispensaries.
The total deaths were 265, the mortality working out at 80.5 per cent.
There were in addition 34 cases of plague and 93 of enteric fever recorded in Kowloon as compared with 5 and 51 in 1917: the small-pox figures for the year were 15 whilst during the previous three years they numbered 173, 100, and 14.
Considering the fact that the population of Kowloon is well over 160,000 I do not think that the figures for the above diseases is high.
At the Public Mortuary I made 1,696 post-mortems as compared with 1,503, 1,278, and 980 in the three previous years.
During the year 17,814 rats were examined, of these 6 were found to be plague-infected as compared with 11 and 29 in the two former years.
The Dispensary at Tai Po Market has suffered from changes of Medical Officers and the figures for the year have fallen from 1,402 in 1917 to 889.
The British schools and missionary establishments have been visited and all scholars and inmates 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. It is satisfactory to note that a very great improvement has resulted in the condition of the children's teeth and, as a natural sequence, their general health. When necessary, vaccinations were performed.
KOWLOON DISPENSARY.
There has been a very large increase in the attendance at the Government Dispensary in Nathan Road.
In 1917 the total was 12,852 but this included 197 physical examinations and 3,249 vaccinations which left the figures for actual patients at 9,406. In 1916 the figures without physical examination or vaccinations reached 13,378, and 98 physical examinations and 209 vaccinations were performed, making a grand total of 13,686 for the year.
Nearly two-thirds of these patients were Chinese, and the main cause of the increase in our figures is due to the ever increasing numbers of surgical cases of varying severity who come to the Dispensary for advice and treatment.