The Social Hygiene Centres functioned on an increased scale during 1938 and dealt with some 3,925 attendances.
A special committee was appointed during the year to consider what additional measures could be taken to combat the evil.
Hospitals.
The addition of nearly half a million refugees to a population of a little over a million, during the year under review, very naturally resulted in an almost intolerable strain being placed on hospital accommodation. This was accentuated by the fact that many of the unfortunates who sought safety in this Colony were ill on arrival, and many were homeless and destitute and many others had barely enough money for food.
Instances came to light where nineteen sick and elderly women occupied seven beds in one of the important Chinese hospitals, where there were sixty-one patients in a ward containing twelve beds and where sixty-six women in child-birth shared forty beds.
An old prison was converted into an auxiliary hospital for Chinese patients containing 500 beds, and three temporary wards were constructed at the Infectious Disease Hospital to hold from forty-five to sixty cases of smallpox or other dangerous infectious disease.
During the summer large marquees were lent by the Military Authorities to house the overflow from the wards and corridors of one of the large Chinese hospitals.
In view of the gravity of the situation, a Hospitals Committee, under the chairmanship of the Director of Medical Services, was appointed to report on existing hospital accommodation and to submit recommendations for its improvement. The Committee sat on several occasions, heard evidence from many sources, and should be in a position to report in the spring of 1939.
Welfare Activities.
The popularity of the welfare centres on the Island and in Kowloon was well maintained and the number of attendances reached a record of 124,046.
Repeated representations were received to open another welfare centre to serve the populous area in the west central district and there is some possibility of a start being made in this regard in a portion of the former Government Civil Hospital during the first half of 1939.
These centres cater for a large number of sick children and could be classified as out-patient dispensaries were it not for the fact that they also serve as well-baby centres and as places where mothers can be taught the essentials of mother-craft.
As in previous years the centres continued to distribute hot, nourishing meals daily to over two hundred nursing mothers and distributed quantities of milk, free or at cost price, for babies and young children in need.
The valuable teaching given in the centres was carried into the homes through the medium of Health Visitors.
Registered midwives also took their share in this welfare work and their activities were subject to close supervision from a Lady Medical Officer acting as Supervisor of Midwives.
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The Social Hygiene Centres functioned on an increased scale during 1938 and dealt with some 3,925 attendances.
A special committee was appointed during the year to consider what additional measures could be taken to combat the evil.
Hospitals.
The addition of nearly half a million refugees to a population of a little over a million, during the year under review, very naturally resulted in an almost intolerable strain being placed on hospital accommodation. This was accentuated by the fact that many of the unfortunates who sought safety in this Colony were ill on arrival, and many were homeless and destitute and many others had barely enough money for food.
Instances came to light where nineteen sick and elderly women occupied seven beds in one of the important Chinese hospitals, where there were sixty-one patients in a ward containing twelve beds and where sixty-six women in child-birth shared forty beds.
An old prison was converted into an auxiliary hospital for Chinese patients containing 500 beds, and three temporary wards were constructed at the Infectious Disease Hospital to hold from forty-five to sixty cases of smallpox or other dangerous infectious disease.
During the summer large marquees were lent by the Military Authorities to house the overflow from the wards and corridors of one of the large Chinese hospitals.
In view of the gravity of the situation, a Hospitals Committee, under the chairmanship of the Director of Medical Services, was appointed to report on existing hospital accommodation and to submit recommendations for its improvement. The Committee sat on several occasions, heard evidence from many sources, and should be in a position to report in the spring of 1939.
Welfare Activities.
The popularity of the welfare centres on the Island and in Kowloon was well maintained and the number of attendances reached a record of 124,046.
Repeated representations were received to open another welfare centre to serve the populous area in the west central district and there is some possibility of a start being made in this regard in a portion of the former Government Civil Hospital during the first half of 1939.
These centres cater for a large number of sick children and could be classified as out-patient dispensaries were it not for the fact that they also serve as well-baby centres and as places where mothers can be taught the essentials of mother-craft.
As in previous years the centres continued to distribute hot, nourishing meals daily to over two hundred nursing mothers and distributed quantities of milk, free or at cost price, for babies and young children in need.
The valuable teaching given in the centres was carried into the homes through the medium of Health Visitors.
Registered midwives also took their share in this welfare work and their activities were subject to close supervision from a Lady Medical Officer acting as Supervisor of Midwives.
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