M 93
459. Deaths in 1936 numbered 1,935. A large proportion of these (1,024) died within 24 hours of admission. 904 bodies were brought in for burial.
THE TUNG WAH INFECTIOUS DISEASES HOSPITAL.
460. The Tung Wah Infectious Diseases Hospital, erected in 1902 for the herbal treatment of plague cases, consists of six wards arranged in three two-storied blocks and faced by another group of three two-storied blocks intended for staff quarters and for administration purposes.
461. At a distance and separated by a yard are the kitchens, the servants' quarters and the mortuary. The whole is contained in a large compound.
462. This hospital at the time of its construction was considered to have all the requirements necessary for the proper treatment of Plague cases by Chinese methods. Chinese methods. From 1903 until 1910 plague cases only were admitted. From 1910 to 1935 it was used for the herbalist treatment of smallpox.
463. There is room for 60 cases without overcrowding but there is no arrangement for heating the wards and no water carriage system.
464. The staff consists of a Chinese coolie as a caretaker and an amah. There is no resident doctor and no clerk and there are neither dressers nor nurses.
465. Considered to be a herbalist hospital it is seldom visited by any of the Western-trained Tung Wah staff, and for all practical purposes it is controlled by the caretaker. There being no trained staff resident and the control being such as it is there must be grave doubts regarding the efficiency of the disinfection processes and the means taken to prevent dissemination of disease by patients, contacts and fomites.
466. When there are any patients requiring his attentions a herbalist from the Tung Wah visits daily and prescribes infusions but there is no attempt at nursing. Certain hospital clothing is provided but the patients as often as not wear their own clothes.
467. No cases of smallpox were admitted during the year.
468. There can be no doubt that conditions at this so-called hospital are most unsatisfactory both from the point of view of the public and the patients. For some time past it has been badly kept up and it is now unworthy to be called a hospital. An institution for the segregation and treatment of the infectious sick it has outlived its usefulness and is obsolete.
As