M 44
248. The additional work which had to be undertaken in connection with the refugees will be found outlined in the section of this Report entitled "Refugee relief in 1938.”
Họ Tung Sai Kung Taipo Un Long Travelling Dispen-sary Ruttonjee Dispen-sary Dispen-sary Dispen-sary Total New cases 4,503 2,605 2,513 13,463 7,534 8,862 994 40,474 Old cases 4,760 4,190 2,055 19,444 6,350 3,414 2,591 42,804 Maternity cases 196 116 89 *112 229 24 1,119 +353 Malarial cases 381 746 258 1,756 849 1,479 52 5,521 Vaccinations 2,371 1,474 972 5,317 4,996 2,791 398 18,319 Cholera inoculation 508 1,185 697 238 2,568 Total 12,211 9,181 6,395 40,445 21,148 17,183 4,297 118,050* on district.
249. The director of the St. John Ambulance has furnished the following details of the activities of the Brigade during the year. A total of 408,098 vaccinations were carried out by members of the Brigade, 51,305 of those vaccinated being children of 5 or under, 387,425 people were vaccinated at street centres in Hong Kong itself and 20,673 in the New Territories.
7. Chinese Hospitals and Dispensaries.
250. There are three principal Chinese hospitals in Hong Kong grouped under a charitable organisation called the Tung Wah Committee. Two are to be found on the Island, the Tung Wah Hospital built in 1873, and the Tang Wah Eastern Hospital, a much more modern institution dating from 1929. The third, the Kwong Wah Hospital, is situated in Kowloon on the mainland. These hospitals combine the functions of the poor law infirmaries which existed in London and elsewhere until recently, hospitals and alms houses; that is to say, they serve as shelters for the old and the destitute and they also treat the sick. They function, in addition, as mortuaries to which the public send their dead. Those who come to them because of illness are allowed to choose whether they will have Chinese herbalist treatment or Western treatment, and herbalists attend each day to provide Chinese treatment for those who want it. The only qualification to this statement lies in the fact that the Government Medical Department has succeeded (after encountering very considerable opposition) in getting the Chinese directors of the hospitals to agree that all cases of notifiable infectious diseases (including cholera, smallpox, cerebro-spinal meningitis, etc.) shall be treated in Western isolation wards by properly qualified medical practitioners and that accidents having medico-legal importance should be similarly treated.
251. This agreement constitutes one of the very real achievements of the Medical Committee, Tung Wah Hospitals, appointed by the Governor at the end of 1938 under the chairmanship of the writer of this Report to act as the executive in all medical matters affecting the hospitals in question.
252. To make the point clearer, it might be well to emphasise the fact that the herbalist "doctors" referred to have had no systematic training, have no belief in orthodox medicine and, with few exceptions, would be classified as quacks elsewhere. Generally speaking, their activities are such as to be a definite obstacle in the administration of the hospitals. They are tolerated still as a concession to ancient custom (and vested interests) in spite of the firm attitude taken by the Chinese National Government itself just before the present hostilities broke out in refusing to recognise so-called Eastern "medicine".
M 44
248. The additional work which had to be undertaken in connection with the refugees will be found outlined in the section of this Report entitled "Refugee relief in 1938.”
Họ Tung Sai Kung| Tại 0 Welfare Dispen- Dispen-
Centre sary
Table XXIII.
Taipo
Un Long Travelling Ruttonjee Dispen- Dispen- Dispen- Dispen- Total
sary
sary
sary
sary
sary
New cases
4,503
2,605
2,513
13,463 7,534
8,862
994
40,474
Old cases
4,760
4,190
2,055
19,444 6,350
3,414
2,591
42,804
Maternity cases
196
116
89
*112
229
24
1,119
+353
Malarial cases
381
746
258
1.756
849 1,479
52
5,521
Vaccinations
2,371
1,474
972
5,317
4,996
2,791
398
18,319
Cholera
inoculation
508
1,185
697
238
2,568
Total
*
on district.
12,211 9,181 6,395 40,445 21,148 17,183 4,297 118,050
in dispensary.
249. The director of the St. John Ambulance has furnished the following details of the activities of the Brigade during the year. A total of 408,098 vac- cinations were carried out by members of the Brigade, 51,305 of those vaccinated being children of 5 or under, 387,425 people were vaccinated at street centres in Hong Kong itself and 20,673 in the New Territories.
7. Chinese Hospitals and Dispensaries.
250. There are three principal Chinese hospitals in Hong Kong grouped under a charitable organisation called the Tung Wah Committee. Two are to be found on the Island, the Tung Wah Hospital built in 1873, and the Tang Wah Eastern Hospital, a much more modern institution dating from 1929. The third, the Kwong Wah Hospital, is situated in Kowloon on the mainland. These hospitals combine the functions of the poor law infirmaries which existed in London and elsewhere until recently, hospitals and alms houses; that is to say, they serve as shelters for the old and the destitute and they also treat the sick. They function, in addition, as mortuaries to which the public send their dead. Those who come to them because of illness are allowed to choose whether they will have Chinese herbalist treatment or Western treatment, and herbalists attend each day to provide Chinese treatment for those who want it. The only qualification to this statement lies in the fact that the Government Medical De- partment has succeeded (after encountering very considerable opposition) in getting the Chinese directors of the hospitals to agree that all cases of notifiable infectious diseases (including cholera, smallpox, cerebro-spinal meningitis, etc.) shall be treated in Western isolation wards by properly qualified medical practi- tioners and that accidents having medico-legal importance should be similarly
treated.
251. This agreement constitutes one of the very real achievements of the Medical Committee, Tung Wah Hospitals, appointed by the Governor at the end of 1938 under the chairmanship of the writer of this Report to act as the executive in all medical matters affecting the hospitals in question.
252. To make the point clearer, it might be well to emphasise the fact that the herbalist "doctors" referred to have had no systematic training, have no belief in orthodox medicine and, with few exceptions, would be classified as quacks elsewhere. Generally speaking, their activities are such as to be a definite obstacle in the administration of the hospitals. They are tolerated still as a concession to ancient custom (and vested interests) in spite of the firm attitude taken by the Chinese National Government itself just before the present hostilities broke out in refusing to recognise so-called Eastern "medicine".
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