Wednesday, June 16, 1971
For these 80 patients, Government plans to make available a
special unit in the infectious disease block of the new Lai Chi Kok
Hospital now under construction on a promontory to the west of Lai Chi
Kok Bay, In this block there will be ample facilities for separating
patients with different infectious diseases.
So far, more than 1,000 people have been treated and dis-charged
from Hay Ling Chau and referred back to Government out-patient clinics
for follow-up. They are now leading ordinary lives in the community, many
of them employed by Government.
No Danger
"There is no danger for people who visit or live near a leprosy
patient as the disease is spread only by direct and continuous contact
between one person and another over a long period of time and modern and
effective treatment renders the patient non-infectious within a short period
of time," a spokesman for the Medical and Health Department reiterated today.
Natural resistance
"The vast majority of people have a natural resistance to the
disease and are able to destroy the invading germs.
"The interest and concern shown by members of the community towards
leprosy patients has been most encouraging," he said.
Since the opening of the leprosarium in 1951, about 40,000 local
and overseas people, an average of 2,000 a year, have visited Hay Ling Chau
to meet and talk to patients. Students from a well-known local co-educational
secondary school go to Hay Ling Chau each Saturday to help the younger patients
with their lessons or join them in an afternoon of entertainment.
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