M 30
164. Provision has been made in the estimates of the current year for covering Albany Road Reservoir and for the filtration and sterilisation of pipe-borne water in the Pokfulam area but it is feared that the former vitally important work will not be started until October, 1940.
165. A scheme has been devised for establishing a School Dental Service, but it has not yet become operative owing to the apprehended fall in the 1939 revenue of the Colony following upon the extension of hostilities to South China.
166. Discussions are taking place between the Government and the University authorities and it is possible that plans will be evolved in 1939 which will enable the nucleus of an Institute of Public Health to be created in 1940.
167. Plans have been drawn up for a new 300-bed infectious diseases hospital, one of the most urgent needs of the Colony, and preliminary estimates suggest that the cost will amount to rather less than two million dollars.
168. A draft scheme has been prepared for the establishment of health centres in various parts of the urban and rural areas, but its operation will also depend on the financial resources of the Colony.
(The
IV.—PORT HEALTH WORK AND ADMINISTRATION.
169. The Sino-Japanese hostilities have continued to affect the volume of shipping calling at Hong Kong. The decrease in the number of ships calling at the port was temporarily offset by the closure of Shanghai as an international port.
170. During the year under review 3,996 British vessels entered and cleared the harbour as compared with 4,322 in 1937. To this number must be added 3,132 foreign vessels, which had totalled 5,202 in the previous year.
171. River steamers, launches and foreign trade junks also showed an appreciable decline, the figures for each class being 6,780, 1,585 and 9,177 respectively. The tonnage fell from 36,191,724 in 1937 to 29,530,384 in 1938. 3,554 inward bound ocean-going vessels were boarded by port health officers.
172. Vessels from Canton, Macao and West River ports and smaller craft were visited when information had been received of sickness or death on board. Periodic inspections of these vessels were carried out with the two-fold purpose of ridding them of rats and promoting higher standards of cleanliness on board.
173. During 1938, 226 special visits were made to ships as compared with 129 in 1937 to see people suffering from infectious but non-quarantinable disease. Twenty-eight out of fifty-nine bodies landed from vessels were examined at the Public Mortuary.
174. 1,732 bills of health were issued in Hong Kong during the year under review, though their utility has been called in question in many parts of the world and doubt exists as to their value in the Far East, doubt which is considerably intensified when the prevailing disturbed conditions are taken into consideration.
175. As there is no quarantine immigration station in Hong Kong, observation of passengers and crews ashore is impracticable. When such observation becomes necessary, it has to be carried out on board at one of the two quarantine anchorages to which vessels go when arriving from ports "infected" within the meaning of the International Sanitary Convention of 1926. Eleven "infected" ships were quarantined in 1938 and 145 "healthy" vessels carrying deck passengers were kept in quarantine for observation for periods varying from twenty-four to seventy-two hours. 1,115,067 persons were medically examined on arrival, making an average of 3,055 a day.
M 30
164. Provision has been made in the estimates of the current year for covering Albany Road Reservoir and for the filtration and sterilisation of pipe- borne water in the Pokfulam area but it is feared that the former vitally important work will not be started until October, 1940.
165. A scheme has been devised for establishing a School Dental Service, but it has not yet become operative owing to the apprehended fall in the 1939 revenue of the Colony following upon the extension of hostilities to South China.
166. Discussions are taking place between the Government and the Univer- sity authorities and it is possible that plans will be evolved in 1939 which will enable the nucleus of an Institute of Public Health to be created in 1940.
167. Plans have been drawn up for a new 300-bed infectious diseases hospital, one of the most urgent needs of the Colony, and preliminary estimates suggest that the cost will amount to rather less than two million dollars.
168. A draft scheme has been prepared for the establishment of health centres in various parts of the urban and rural areas, but its operation will also depend on the financial resources of the Colony.
(The
IV.-PORT HEALTH WORK AND ADMINISTRATION,.
169. The Sino-Japanese hostilities have continued to affect the volume of shipping calling at Hong Kong. The decrease in the number of ships calling at the port was temporarily offset by the closure of Shanghai as an international port. 7
170. During the year under review 3,996 British vessels entered and cleared the harbour as compared with 4,322 in 1937. To this number must be added 3,132 foreign vessels, which had totalled 5,202 in the previous year.
171. River steamers, launches and foreign trade junks also showed an appreciable decline, the figures for each class being 6,780, 1,585 and 9,177 respectively. The tonnage fell from 36,191,724 in 1937 to 29,530,384 in 1938. 3,554 inward bound ocean-going vessels were boarded by port health officers.
172. (Vessels from Canton, Macao and West River ports and smaller craft
were visited when information had been received of sickness or death on board. Periodic inspections of these vessels were carried out with the two-fold purpose of ridding them of rats and promoting higher standards of cleanliness on board.
173. During 1938, 226 special visits were made to ships as compared with 129 in 1937 to see people suffering from infectious but non-quarantinable disease. Twenty-eight out of fifty-nine bodies landed from vessels were examined at the Public Mortuary.
174. 1,732 bills of health were issued in Hong Kong during the year under review, though their utility has been called in question in many parts of the world and doubt exists as to their value in the Far East, doubt which is con- siderably intensified when the prevailing disturbed conditions are taken into con- sideration.
175. As there is no quarantine immigration station in Hong Kong, observation of passengers and crews ashore is impracticable. When such observation becomes necessary, it has to be carried out on board at one of the two quarantine anchorages to which vessels go when arriving from ports "infected" within the meaning of the International Sanitary Convention of 1926. Eleven "infected" ships were quarantined in 1938 and 145 "healthy" vessels carrying deck passengers were kept in quarantine for observation for periods. varying from twenty-four to seventy-two hours. 1,115,067 persons were medical- ly examined on arrival, making an average of 3,055 a day.
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