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347. An enormous and ever-increasing number of sick too poor to pay a doctor's fee or to buy proper medicine, successfully reached.
348. There are three general hospitals each with maternity wards attached, one smallpox hospital, one maternity hospital and nine public dispensaries.
349. They are maintained by subscriptions from the public, by donations from the Chinese General Charities Fund and by direct grants from Government. They are controlled by Chinese Committees who work in close co-operation with the Secretary for Chinese Affairs.
350. In the three big hospitals the patient can choose between Western and Chinese methods of treatment, but in the Maternity Hospitals and Dispensaries Western Medicine only is practised. Government Lady Doctors hold gynaecological clinics in each of the dispensaries once or twice a week.
351. Both Hospitals and Dispensaries 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.
The Chinese Hospitals.
352. The Tung Wah Hospital situated in the centre of the most thickly populated area in Victoria was founded by the Chinese in 1873 with the help and encouragement of the Government. It took the place of a Home for the Dying which had been conducted by charitable Chinese, and it was intended to provide treatment by Chinese herbalists, and accommodation in sanitary surroundings for the poor of the Chinese race.
353. Originally intended for the accommodation and treatment of those Chinese whose fears and prejudices against Western Medicine prevented their applying for relief at the Government Hospitals, the Tung Wah at a later period introduced and encouraged scientific methods. As prejudice disappeared and confidence grew the demand for Western medicine increased until now the number being treated by this method equals that which still pins its faith to the plasters and decoctions of the herbalists.
354. The Tung Wah Smallpox Hospital situated at the extreme west end of Victoria was erected in 1902.
355. The Tung Wah Eastern Hospital situated at the extreme east end of Victoria was opened in 1929.