CO129-594-8 A G H Sment- report on medical activities and problems 16-12-1945 - 18-2-1946 — Page 22

"

•

22

Colonel Fehily has got staff working on the making of sheets, gowns and other hospital clothing from calico impounded out of stocks found in godowns. Instruments are, on the whole, intact as regards numbers but some Japanese items have been sub- stituted. About one-third of hospital furniture has been recovered in reasonable condition. Laboratory equipment is missing generally. Microscopes have been recovered, but often they are rendered useless through the objectives being missing.

me Scientific apparatus has been recovered but here, again, essential parts have been removed. Radiological equipment is in workable condition and so is the electro- medical equipment, but the deep therapy set is out of action because the special oil has been drained from it. Useful stocks of glassware have been recovered but china generally is non-existent. Refrigerators are out of condition but many of them are repairable. There are ample stocks of cotton dressings but adhesive dressings have perished. There is a considerable stock of hot-water bottles but often they have no stoppers; there is a fair stock of other rubber goods in moderate condition. The equipment: contained in the Young Working Party Units would make good many of these deficiencies. The transport position has been very difficult but has improved a lot, and great strides are being made in getting things into shape within the limits of resources available.

3.

PREVALENT DISEASES

:

The three most prevalent diseases in the Colony at present are malaria, pulmonary tuberculosis and venereal disease. This agrees with post-war conditions found in other Colonial territories. Colonel Fehily estimates. that about one-third of the deaths occurring since the Japanese capitulation have been due to starvation, beri-beri and deficiency diseases generally. During the occupation 150 bodies were collected daily from the streets, representing mainly people who had died from starvation and I am told reliably that cannibalism was prevalent during 1942 and 1943. The Japanese policy here, as elsewhere, was to get rid of surplus population from crowded areas without any consideration as to the fate of the people who were expelled from these areas, with the result that many people had no means of subsist ence. Since re-entry the death rate has been going down progressively but there is still an unduly high incidence of disease. With improving diets the incidence of beri-beri, at one time high, is decreasing. Infantile beri-beri, which used to be an index of the occurrence of beri-beri generally, has largely disappeared. Nevertheless, the incidence of beri-beri still remains well above that existing in the pre-war period.

I

:

Before the Japanese occupation, malaria had been reduced to a negligible incidence and it was noteworthy if cases occurred in any locality. But, with the privations of the long occupation and lowered resistance, coupled with almost total neglect of anti-malarial activitios, the incidence of malaria has risen to an alarm- ing extent.

Fortunately, this is confined to certain areas, chiefly where bomb or shell damage has occurred. In country areas the occurrence of malaria is mainly due to the neglect of anti-malarial control which has permitted the breeding of the chief vector A. minimus, which lives in sluggish strcans and seepage in hilly areas. In the large Island of Lan Tau, which lies to the South of Hong Kong Island, much malaria has occurred and steps have been taken to protect the population there by the use of suppressive mepacrin; the population of the Island is probably something over 7,000 which is the 1931 census figure. There is also a good deal of malaria on the mainland, especially where construction is in progress, for instance, in the Ping Shan area where work on the new airfield is going on. Malaria in the Colony is to some extent associated with the growing of padi but this is seasonal. Fortunately, the incidence has not been high in Victoria, except in one or two limited arcas, but it has been prevalent in the Taikoo Dock area which was badly damaged and in other areas in this neighbourhood. A high percentage of the admissions to some hospitals is still due to malaria. The main type of parasite seen is vivax although there is a fairly high proportion of falciparum. While the situation is serious, it is not so menacing now as it was earlier. For one thing

::

the malaria season is past and anti-malarial control is being established more firmly every day, and will go on improving. Personnel in the Services are required to take suppressive mepacrin and the incidence among them is not nearly so high as amongst the civil population. There are good stocks of mepacrin in the Services and supplies have been given to the Civil Affairs Authorities; in addition, very considerable stocks of Japanese quinine were left behind.

42878-1