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Xi
The present position is also due in some measure to the entirely fortuitous freedom from any epidemics of infectious disease, which the Colony has at no time during the period under review been in a position to face. This freedom from epidemics is as surprising as it is fortunate. Compared with 1941, the Colony is virtually overrun with rats, and a vaccination campaign planned two months ago has had to be post- poned owing to the insufficiency of calf lymph. With the colder weather the danger of a cholera epidemic has been somewhat removed. The incidence of tuber- culosis is believed to be very high as a natural consequence of years of under-nourishment.
43.
In September malaria was rife throughout the Colony but labour has now been engaged in anti- malarial work and stream and swamp drainage are being undertaken. The proposed aerial spraying of the island has not yet been possible but considerable groundwork has been done with the co-operation of the Services.
44.
Social hygiene presents a more acute problem than before the war. 66% of venereal cases are syphilitic. Various palliative measures have been taken in consultation with the Services, amongst them being the proposed declaration of V.D. as a notifiable disease, an ambitious scheme for the hospitalization of venereal cases and the provision of urgently needed arsenical preparations by the Naval and Military authorities.
45.
The sanitation problem has been rendered more difficult by the debris and rubbish which has collected in unoccupied and damaged houses and the almost universal Japanese-occupation practice of dumping garbage in out of the way places.
Owing to
the shortage of materials for lime washing and kerosene emulsion, only 10% of Chinese tenement floors have so far been cleansed. The shortage of garbage cans and the inadequacy of transport has made it necessary to organize a 24-hour service for refuse removal. Conservancy requirements will shortly be met by the improvisation of dry latrine pans and night- soil buckets, and by the implementation of the night- soil junks with landing craft. The more important markets are in reasonably good condition. The R.N. Medical authorities are responsible for Port Health work and the R.A.F. medical authorities for that of the airport at Kai Tak.
46.
The Administration has assumed financial responsibility for the Nethersole and French Hospitals, and these served a vital purpose during the period of rehabilitation of the Queen Mary and Kowloon Hospitals which were in a chaotic condition. Some 400 beds are already available in the two latter hospitals and full medical and surgical facilities are now restored. The Tsan Yuk Maternity Hospital and the Mental Hospital are also in full operation. A wing of the former Government Civil Hospital has been adapted for isolation purposes in place of the Kennedy Town Hospital and the Lai Chi Kok Hospital of which the former was destroyed and the latter unfit for use.
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