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6. Today each of the three Tung Wah Hospitals has a good operating theatre where operations are performed daily, many of which are major in character.
7. The Chinese Public Dispensaries, nine in number, are situated in the most thickly populated districts in Hong Kong and on the mainland. Originally they were not started to fulfil their present useful purpose. This has been in the nature of an evolution and from quite small beginnings. At the time of a Plague Epidemic when the panic-stricken people were almost as much afraid of the sanitary cleaning squads as they were of the plague, and bodies were being dumped in the streets, a Committee of Chinese gentlemen suggested that various centres be occupied under the care of Western trained Chinese Doctors, and at the expense of the Charitable Community where dead bodies could be received, and where the clerk-in-charge of the centre could go with the Sanitary coolies to the infected houses and calm the fears of the inhabitants and explain to them the need of such action. At first there were only two centres—Eastern and Western, and later the Central. The Dispensaries are foci for the dissemination of knowledge concerning the causes of disease, the means of spread, and the value of Western drugs and modern methods.
8. Each Dispensary is controlled by a separate Committee of Chinese gentlemen who work in close touch with the Secretary for Chinese Affairs. Responsible to the Committee and in direct charge of the Dispensary is a Chinese Medical Practitioner qualified in Western Medicine. He is assisted by an English-speaking Chinese clerk, and there is a staff of dressers and coolies.
9. In addition to the ordinary work of the polyclinic and dispensary these institutions serve as depots where the poor may apply for assistance in matters connected with:-
(a) The removal of patients to hospital.
(b) Certification as to the cause of death.
(c) Removal of corpses to mortuaries.
(d) Supply of coffins and arrangements for burial.
(e) The registration of births.
Vaccination.
VISITING MEDICAL OFFICERS FOR CHINESE HOSPITALS AND DISPENSARIES.
10. Both Hospitals and Dispensaries are subsidised by Government and are subject to inspection by the Government Medical Department. There are four officers of the Department whose duty it is to visit the various institutions and to give advice and assistance. These officers work in close touch with the Secretary for Chinese Affairs.
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