PRH 7
香港政府
GIS 新聞處
DAILY INFORMATION BULLETIN
SUNDAY, MAY 18, 1975
SPINAL INJURIES UNIT IN KOWLOON HOSPITAL
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PEOPLE WITH SPINAL CORD INJURIES WHICH LEAD TO TETRAPLEGIA OR PARAPLEGIA COULD BE BED-RIDDEN OR WHEELCHAIR-BOUND FOR LIFE AND MAY EVEN DIE IF NOT TREATED PROPERLY AND EARLY. HOWEVER, IF THESE PATIENTS, SUFFERING FROM PARALYSIS OF LIMBS AND LOSS OF SENSATION TO TOUCH AND PAIN, WERE TREATED IN A SPECIAL CENTRE AT AN EARLY STAGE AFTER INJURY, THEIR FATE COULD BE ALTERED ALTOGETHER.
IN FACT, A HIGH PROPORTION OF SUCH PATIENTS ADMITTED TO THE SPINAL INJURÏES UNIT IN THE KOWLOON HOSPITAL WITHIN DAYS OF SUSTAINING THE INJURY HAVE BEEN MADE TO WALK AGAIN WITHOUT APPLIANCES.
STATISTICS FOR 1974 SHOW THAT 50 PER CENT OF THOSE ADMITTED' TO THE UNIT AT AN EARLY STAGE AFTER INJURY WERE ABLE TO WALK AGAIN WITHOUT AIDS AFTER TREATMENT AND REHABILITATION, AND 30 PER CENT COULD MOVE ABOUT WITH WALKING AIDS. ONLY A MINORITY WITH SEVERE INJURIES HAD TO DEPEND ENTIRELY ON WHEELCHAIRS.
THE SPINAL INJURIES UNIT IN KOWLOON HOSPITAL THE ONLY ONE OF ITS KIND IN HONG KONG, CPENED IN JULY 1973 TO TREAT AND REHABILITATE SPINAL CORD INJURY PATIENTS.
PRIOR TO THE SETTING UP OF THIS UNIT, SUCH PATIENTS WERE TREATED IN CLINICAL UNITS OF VARIOUS HOSPITALS AND MANY OF THÊM ARE THEN TRANSFERRED TO OTHER HOSPITALS OR CENTRES FOR REHABILITATION. THIS METHOD OF TREATING PATIENTS IN ONE HOSPITAL FOR THE ACUTE STAGE AND REHABILITATING THEM LATER IN ANOTHER CENTRE WAS CONSIDERED TO BE NOT FULLY EFFECTIVE. CONSEQUENTLY, THE SPINAL INJURIES UNIT WAS FORMED WHERE THE WHOLE PROCESS OF TREATMENT AND REHABILITATION COULD BE CARRIED OUT IN THE SAME PLACE AND AT THE SAME TIME.
THE UNIT ADMITS PATIENTS ON A REFERRAL BASIS, FROM VARIOUS MEDICAL INSTITUTIONS IN HONG KONG. WHEN ADMITTING PATIENTS, PRIMARY CONSIDERATION IS GIVEN TO TRAUMATIC CASES, BUT OTHER CASES DUE TO NON-PROGRESSIVE DISEASES OF THE SPINAL CORD MAY BE CONSIDERED. PRIORITY FOR ADMISSION IS GIVEN TO EARLY AND UNCOMPLICATED CASES, AND SECOND PRIORITY TO COMPLICATED CASES WITH SOME PROPSECTS OF DOMESTIC OR HOSTEL RESETTLEMENT.
THE UNIT, WITH 60 BEDS, GIVES ACUTE TREATMENT AND ACTIVE REHABILITATION TO ITS PATIENTS, IT IS NOT A CONVALESCENT HOME OR HOSTEL, AND CERTAINLY NOT A DUMPING GROUND FOR THE OLD AND INVALID. THE UNIT HAS ITS OWN DOCTORS, NURSING STAFF PHYSIOTHERAPISTS, OCCUPATIONAL THERAPISTS AND MEDICAL, SOCIAL
WORKERS.
Issued by Government Information Services, Beaconsfield House, Hong Kong. Tel: 5-233191
/ACCORDING TO