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48. The omnibus and out of date Public Health and Buildings Ordinance was replaced by a number of ordinances each dealing with its own side of the public health complex. The Sanitary Board was replaced by an Urban Council of which the Director of Medical and Sanitary Services became vice-chairman and adviser on all matters of public health including sanitation. It is now the duty of the D.M.S. to superintend the enforcement and observance of all Ordinances relating to the Public Health and of the by-laws and regulations made thereunder. For this purpose the Sanitary Inspectors will be grouped under the Health Officers who will be under the general direction of the D.M.S.
49. The scheme represents for Hong Kong the organisation which has proved successful in municipalities such as Glasgow and Toronto modified to suit local conditions and local opinion. If carried out fully by each department concerned working in the spirit of sympathetic co-operation it should give satisfaction.
50. The financial depression which commenced in 1930 and which has continued ever since delayed progress very considerably and a number of things which otherwise would have been done had to be postponed. A new mental hospital, a new infectious diseases hospital, a leper asylum, much needed expansion to the Kowloon hospital, urgently required accommodation and equipment for radiological work and physiotherapy and a teaching centre near the University could not be provided.
51. It was found impossible to include in the estimates provision for the emoluments of a Senior Health Officer, a post absolutely essential for the proper running of the new scheme. The appointment of a Dental Surgeon and an Ophthalmologist had again to be postponed.
52. The Queen Mary Hospital:-Work on the Queen Mary Hospital was continued and at the end of the year it was nearing completion. It should be ready for occupation towards the middle of 1937. This fine institution of 500 beds will take the place of the Government Civil and the Victoria Hospitals which ultimately will be closed. Situated on the south side of the Island in open surroundings and five hundred feet above mean sea level the hospital commands an uninterrupted view of the sea and islands to the south and west. The site is sufficiently elevated to catch the full benefits of the summer breezes but low enough to escape the hill fogs which are so prevalent in the hot season.