ON
Thursday, March 29, 1973
RETARDED CHILDREN THRIVING IN COUNTRY ATMOSPHERE
At Siu Lam Hospital
There are at present 150 children at the Siu Lam Hospital, in Tai Lam, and all are thriving as a result of their transfer from urban centres
to a country hospital.
Siu Lam was formally opened last year by Sir Kenneth Ping-fan Fung
as a hospital for severely mentally retarded children. The patients came
from special wards in the Tung Wah Hospital, the Po Leung Kuk, and Social
Welfare Department institutions where they were placed pending completion
of Siu Lam,
After the hospital's opening, the children were accepted in groups
of 50 at a time to enable the staff to adjust to the special rountines required
for this type of patient.
The rainstorm of last June seriously damaged the approach road,
and so delayed for some months completion of the transfer, but the hospital
is now fully operational, and the maximum capacity of 200 will soon be reached.
Siu Lam was built with a large donation from the Royal Hong Kong
Jockey Club, and was set up on the recommendation of Dr. L.T. Hilliard, who had earlier recommended that mentally-retarded children in Hong Kong be sub-divided
into three groups.
Children
Children capable of being educated should be the responsibility of
the Education Department, who would organise special classes for them. in the medium grade of retardation should be trained by the Social Welfare
Department.
The severely