XN000022-1971-06-16 — Page 8

Wednesday, June 16, 1971

For these 80 patients, Government plans to make available a

special unit in the infectious disease block of the new Lai Chi Kok

Hospital now under construction on a promontory to the west of Lai Chi

Kok Bay, In this block there will be ample facilities for separating

patients with different infectious diseases.

So far, more than 1,000 people have been treated and dis-charged

from Hay Ling Chau and referred back to Government out-patient clinics

for follow-up. They are now leading ordinary lives in the community, many

of them employed by Government.

No Danger

"There is no danger for people who visit or live near a leprosy

patient as the disease is spread only by direct and continuous contact

between one person and another over a long period of time and modern and

effective treatment renders the patient non-infectious within a short period

of time," a spokesman for the Medical and Health Department reiterated today.

Natural resistance

"The vast majority of people have a natural resistance to the

disease and are able to destroy the invading germs.

"The interest and concern shown by members of the community towards

leprosy patients has been most encouraging," he said.

Since the opening of the leprosarium in 1951, about 40,000 local

and overseas people, an average of 2,000 a year, have visited Hay Ling Chau

to meet and talk to patients. Students from a well-known local co-educational

secondary school go to Hay Ling Chau each Saturday to help the younger patients

with their lessons or join them in an afternoon of entertainment.

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