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387. Of the 5,551 radiological examinations 3,900 were done at the Government Civil Hospital, and 1,611 at the Kowloon Hospital as compared with 3,682 and 1,215 in the previous year.
388. The decrease in the number of treatments for massage and electro-therapy is due to a change in the method of computation. It is common for a patient to receive more than one treatment under one or the other heading, or under both, at one visit. In former years each treatment was counted separately and as many as four might be recorded for one sitting. This year treatments were recorded as massage or electrotherapy with the result that the maximum for one visit was two not four.
389. On both sides of the harbour there is need for more extensive and more appropriate accommodation both for X-Ray work, for massage and for electro-therapy. The new Queen Mary Hospital will provide the necessary accommodation on the Island. A new block at Kowloon is urgently required.
390. Most of the X-Ray work was done by one or other of the three X-Ray machines installed during 1935. One, a combined screening and radiographic unit is intended ultimately for use in the operating theatre of the Queen Mary Hospital. The other two sets are mobile units, one for Kowloon Hospital and the other for Queen Mary Hospital.
391. The "Victor" X-Ray tube fitted to the machine at the Kowloon Hospital has given excellent service and appears not to suffer as much from excessive humidity as the Metalix "S.A." tubes.
392. The routine use of X-Ray paper was continued for suitable cases. A total of 4,848 sheets were exposed resulting in a saving of £258.11.0.
393. The quantity of Radium needed for the treatment of cancer patients applying to the Government Hospitals for relief is much greater than that available. Most cases require in addition Deep X-Ray Therapy, in fact, in the majority Deep X-Ray therapy is the method of choice. The Government Medical Department has no machine for Deep X-Ray therapy and only twenty milligrammes of Radium. For a time a certain amount of Radium was loaned to the Government Civil Hospital by the Trustees of the Matilda Hospital but this supply was withdrawn on the 22nd of May.
394. It is sincerely hoped that the financial situation will permit of provision being made in the estimates to allow of the purchase of a sufficiency of radium and the installation of an up-to-date Deep X-Ray machine to treat the many cases of malignant disease who might be saved but who are doomed to a lingering death owing to the lack of equipment.
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