CO129-562-21 Vacancy for Director of Medical Services 19-2-1937 - 19-2-1937 — Page 5

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wish to consider the transfer of a suitable officer from another Colony. As regards professional qualifications I consider that possession of a Diploma in Public Health is necessary to an appointment in which sanitary problems loom qui te as largely as questions of medical treatment and

hospital organization. On the administrative side

it is essential to have a man who will deal appreciatively and tactfully with the many non- Government medical institutions of Hong Kong and their managements; e.g. the St. John's Ambulance Brigade and Hospitals, the Tung Wah Hospitals, the Matilda Hospital, the Convent Hospital, the War Memorial Nursing Home, the relief organization of the Society for the Protection of Children, the University, etc., etc. The Colony is very lucky to have so much money voluntarily subscribed for the relief and prevention of disease, and it is essential to avoid friction and achieve the fullest

cooperation between official and unofficial institutions, Government medical officers and private practitioners. Equally important in Dr. Wellington's successor will be a patient attitude towards the Chinese treatment offered, alternatively to European treatment, in the Tung Wah Hospitals.

4. I have thought it necessary to emphasize the importance of statesmanlike qualities in the

officer to be appointed, because I have seen for

myself how much more complex and delicate are the relations and circumstances of the Hong Kong post in comparison with those of the Malayan Directorship.