DENTISTRY
435. As yet, Hong Kong has no School of Dentistry although the proposal to establish a Faculty of Dental Science at Hong Kong University has been approved in principle. To meet the Colony's needs meantime, a Government Dental Scholarship scheme was started in 1954 to ensure a supply of qualified dentists until such time as the University Dental School comes into being. Seven of these Scholarships are granted annually by a Committee consisting of senior officers of Government and the University. Those who qualify as dental surgeons under the scheme may be required to work in the Government Dental Service for one or two years upon their return and in any case are required to practise in Hong Kong for not less than four years.
436. Three more scholarship students were sent to the Dental School of the University of Adelaide in January and four in February 1960 to the University of Melbourne. Five students graduated as Bachelors of Dental Surgery of the University of Malaya and returned to Hong Kong in 1959, leaving a total of 34 dental scholars still studying over- seas at the end of the financial year.
437. Two additional Dental Surgery Assistants were awarded W.H.O. Fellowships for training as Dental Nurses in Penang, Malaya, bringing the number of students to a total of five, three of whom are in Penang and two in Wellington, New Zealand. The role of the Dental Nurse is to carry out minor operative work under the supervision of a Dental Officer and to educate children, parents and teachers in the principles of dental health.
NURSES
438. There is full reciprocity of registration between the Nursing Bourd in Hong Kong and the General Nursing Council of England and Wales. Each year a number of qualified nursing staff, including both local and expatriate officers, go overseas to gain further experience in different aspects of nursing.
439. The Department maintains a Nurses Preliminary Training School at the Queen Mary Hospital, and this hospital and the Kowloon Hospital are training schools approved by the Nursing Board, in which the medium of instruction is English. Other approved nurses training schools are at the Tung Wah Hospitals, the Alice Ho Miu Ling Nethersole Hospital, and the Hong Kong Sanatorium and Hospital, in all of which the teaching is carried out in Chinese.
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440.
The continuing expansion of the work of the Department and the necessity to train nursing staff for the large new hospitals under construction has thrown a very considerable strain on the resources of teaching staff and accommodation. Up till now, the immediate demands have been met, but the strain will continue until such time as the Nurses Training School at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Kowloon has been fully established: the school is expected to open during September, 1960. 441. In December, 1959 the first course of training in mental nursing started at the Victoria Mental Hospital. It is being conducted by a male Tutor who has recently returned from the United Kingdom where he had obtained the Tutor's qualifications in mental nursing. In addition, a number of student nurses are under training in England for the Registered Mental Nurse Certificate so that a nucleus of trained mental nurses will be available when the Castle Peak Hospital has been opened.
MIDWIVES
442. Registered nurses who have trained in the Government School of Nursing can then proceed to take a one-year course in midwifery, using English as the teaching medium, in the maternity wards of the Queen Mary and Kowloon Hospitals. Nurses who have trained at the Tung Wah group of Hospitals, Alice Ho Miu Ling Nethersole Hospital and Hong Kong Sanatorium and Hospital can also take a similar course, conducted in Chinese, in the maternity wards of their respective hospitals.
443. For student midwives who are not registered nurses there is a two-year course of training carried out by Government staff, in Chinese, at the Tsan Yuk Hospital.
HEALTH VISITORS
444. Since 1954, a course of training has been held annually for Health Visitors at Harcourt Health Centre; all entrants to this course have previously obtained qualifications both in general nursing and in midwifery. The training, both theoretical and practical, covers a wide range of lectures, demonstrations and visius covering all aspects of public health work. At the end of the course, the students take the examination for the Health Visitor's Certificate which is conducted by the Hong
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