CO129-487 - Others & Individuals - 1924 — Page 169

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INFANT WELFARE IN HONGKONG.

(ur [-R. (tallifer).

There are eight establishments of the Chinese

Dispensaries in the Colony

side and four on the Kowloon side.

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four on the Hongkong

Instituted some 20

years ago, they represent a continuing movement by the

enlightened Chinese towards a better care, under European

methods only, of women and children. They are free

outpatient departments, each in charge of a Chinese Doctor

trained in Western methods: the majority of these doctors

hold diplomas of the old Hongkeng College of medicine,

out of which the University grew. With each doctor is a

clerk: their duty is to take all possible steps to

encourage women and children to attend the dispensaries,

and at the same time to accustom the community especially

the lower sections of it to the ideas of Western

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Hygiene, against the enforcement of these western methods

in time of epidemic. They work in close touch with the

Sanitary Department continuously: and have done excellent

work in the way of removing the fears and the prejudices

which naturally hamper the work of such a department among

the native community. The line of attack was to secure

the confidence of the women and children through the

Chinese themselves; some 100,000 cases a year ( I speak from memory) are treated by the Dispensaries now, and the

number is growing. As the number grows, so does the

work of the Sanitary Department become simpler.

The hospitals the Government Civil Hospital

and the two large Chinese Hospitals, the Tungwa and the

Kwongwa

are of course always open to women and children

as to others: but the objection to becoming an inpatient

anywhere is even greater than was the objection to

treatment