Arrangements were also made with the Church Missionary Society Leper Settlement on the outskirts of Pakhoi in Western Kwangtung to accommodate twenty-five lepers.
In spite of these transfers, the Kennedy Town Settlement had a population of 172 at the end of the year.
(d) Tuberculosis.
In January, 1939, tuberculosis was added to the list of diseases which must be notified to the health authorities. By the end of the year, 7,591 cases had been reported, a tithe of those existing in the Colony. Deaths numbered 4,443 as compared with 4,920 in 1938. It is feared, however, that this does not represent the correct figure, for a very definite disinclination exists to report cases and deaths lest these be followed by terminal disinfection of the premises and other disturbances to person and property. Hence, there are no grounds for satisfaction at the apparent improvement in the mortality from this disease in 1939.
As stated above, pasteurisation of milk came into force in 1939, although it must be admitted that there is little evidence of tuberculosis in milch-kine in Hong Kong.
An important step was taken by Government in the summer of 1939 in connection with housing and town-planning, which has such an influence upon the incidence and spread of tuberculosis in this Colony. The Town-Planning Ordinance, No. 20 of 1939, was enacted and a Board was nominated by Government. Labour legislation was also prepared—not yet enacted—which should have an important effect on wage rates and conditions of work, hence, on the tuberculosis problem. Intensive public health propaganda was carried out during the year against spitting and to disseminate teaching on the cause and means of prevention of the disease.
3. HOSPITALIZATION.
The serious overcrowding of the hospitals in Hong Kong continued throughout the year. In-patients in the group of three Chinese hospitals numbered 61,001 in 1939, as compared with 43,807 in 1936, the year preceding the outbreak of hostilities.
The three Chinese hospitals have an "official" accommodation of 1,102 beds, but the daily average number of in-patients accounted to 1,684.
As a temporary expedient, four large matsheds were constructed in the grounds of the Kwong Wah Hospital, one of the three principal Chinese hospitals, to house two hundred bed-ridden patients for whom room could not be found in the hospital itself.
In order to relieve the Chinese hospitals in some measure, Government approved the erection of hospital huts in all four urban camps for refugees, internees, and destitutes. These housed eighty beds and proved a valuable asset.
To meet the difficulties resulting from the periodical closing of the Canton River (and, consequently, from the impossibility of transferring mental patients to the Fong Chuen Lunatic Asylum in Canton), Government sanctioned the conversion into wards of a large block of buildings originally used as quarters for Sisters at the former Government Civil Hospital. This helped greatly to reduce the serious overcrowding in the Mental Hospital.
To meet, in part, the dearth of accommodation for sick babies, Government also approved the temporary loan of the former Maternity Hospital at the old Government Civil Hospital to a private charitable association, a Government Lady Medical Officer serving as medical adviser.
Arrangements were also made with the Church Missionary Society Leper Settlement on the outskirts of Pakhoi in Western Kwangtung to accommodate twenty-five lepers.
In spite of these transfers, the Kennedy Town Settlement had a population of 172 at the end of the year.
(d) Tuberculosis.
In January, 1939, tuberculosis was added to the list of diseases which must be notified to the health authorities. By the end of the year, 7,591 cases had been reported, a tithe of those existing in the Colony. Deaths numbered 4,443 as compared with 4,920 in 1938. It is feared, however, that this does not represent the correct figure, for a very definite disinclination exists to report cases and deaths lest these be followed by terminal disinfection of the premises and other disturbances to person and property. Hence, there are no grounds for satisfaction at the apparent improvement in the mortality from this disease in 1939.
As stated above, pasteurisation of milk came into force in 1939, although it must be admitted that there is little evidence of tuberculosis in milch-kine in Hong Kong.
An important step was taken by Government in the summer of 1939 in connection with housing and town-planning, which has such an influence upon the incidence and spread of tuberculosis in this Colony. The Town-Planning Ordin- ance, No. 20 of 1939, was enacted and a Board was nominated by Government. Labour legislation was also prepared--not yet enacted-which should have an important effect on wage rates and conditions of work, hence, on the tuberculosis problem. Intensive public health propaganda was carried out during the year against spitting and to disseminate teaching on the cause and means of prevention of the disease.
3. HOSPITALIZATION.
The serious overcrowding of the hospitals in Hong Kong continued throughout the year. In-patients in the group of three Chinese hospitals numbered 61,001 in 1939, as compared with 43,807 in 1936, the year preceding the outbreak of hostilities.
The three Chinese hospitals have an "official" accommodation of 1,102 beds, but the daily average number of in-patients accounted to 1,684.
As a temporary expedient, four large matsheds were constructed in the grounds of the Kwong Wah Hospital one of the three principal Chinese hospitals-to house two hundred bed- ridden patients for whom room could not be found in the hospital itself.
In order to relieve the Chinese hospitals in some measure, Government approved the erection of hospital huts in all four urban camps for refugees, internees and destitutes. These housed eighty beds and proved a valuable asset.
To meet the difficulties resulting from the periodical closing of the Canton River (and, consequently, from the impossibility of transferring mental patients to the Fong Chuen Lunatic Asylum in Canton), Government sanctioned the conversion into wards of a large block of buildings originally used as quarters for Sisters at the former Government Civil Hospital. This helped greatly to reduce the serious overcrowding in the Mental Hospital. ›
To meet, in part, the dearth of accommodation for sick babies, Government also approved the temporary loan of the former Maternity Hospital at the old Govern- ment Civil Hospital to a private charitable association, a Government Lady Medical Officer serving as medical adviser.
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