X1000306-1961-62_Part02 — Page 17

VI. HOSPITAL COSTING

453. During the 1962-63 Budget Debate a request was made that the Annual Report should contain costing figures of the various hospitals and clinics as is being done by the Ministry of Health in Britain. There is as yet no cost accounting organization available to do this, but the administrative staff of the Medical Division have maintained records of expenditure on certain representative hospitals and clinics over the past two financial years. These costings, however, do not include annually recurrent charges on capital outlay, i.e. land, interest, depreciation etc. Moreover they also omit expenditure on passages, pensions, maintenance of buildings and grounds, water, stationery and telephones, which is met from non-departmental votes. They must therefore be regarded as being of comparative, rather than absolute, validity.

454, Subject to these reservations, the costings of representative hospital units during 1961-62 were as follows:

DANI

Queen Mary Hospital (Acute general

beds: Teaching Hospital) Kowloon Hospital (Acute general

beds)

Cost per patient treated

Cast per

Total Cost

day

Com per bed per Year

513,039,173

532

$19,119

$ 713

$ 9,972,110

$46

$16,931

Lai Chi Kok Hospital (Infectious

und Convalescent)

$ 2,389,513

$14

$ 4,968

Tsan Yuk Hospital (Maternity &

Teaching)

$ 2,124,747

Castle Peak Hospital (Mental)

529

$13

$10.624 $ 4,790

$ 351

$ 240 $2,519

$ 5,360,478

rounded off to the nearest dollar).

$ 404

(All figures are

Included in the above are the cost of treating outpatients at these institutions as it is impossible at present to cost these separately. The numbers of such outpatients are shown in appendices 12 and 13.

455. The marked difference between the average cost of treating each patient at the Queen Mary and the Kowloon Hospitals is due to the shorter average stay of patients in the latter hospital as this hospital has far more convalescent beds allocated in the Lai Chi Kok Hospital. The cost per patient treated at Castle Peak Hospital reflects the long average stay of psychiatric patients.

456. Records are also maintained of the expenditure on certain typical clinics. These show that operating the Sha Tau Kok Clinic (> small rural clinic) cost $46.119 during the year and that 20,473 out-

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patients and 457 maternity admissions were treated at this institution. Similarly, operating the Hong Kong Jockey Club Clinic, Aberdeen (a large rural clinic) cost $253,786.00 and 49,100 outpatients and 1,579 maternity admissions were treated. The Kowloon Chest Clinic for tuberculosis cost $1,125.337 and there were 712.353 attendances for treatment, which gives an unit cost of $1.60 for each attendance.

VIL TRAINING PROGRAMME

DOCTORS

457. The University of Hong Kong confers the degree of M.B.,B.S. which has been registrable with the General Medical Council since 1911. At present the Faculty of Medicine admits between 70 and 80 students each year, of whom, between 35 and 50 eventually graduate. After provisional registration with the Medical Council of Hong Kong the graduates are required to undergo a 12 months' period of compulsory internship in posts approved by the University. There are plans to gradually increase the intake of medical students to about 120 each year between now and 1966 with the aim of graduating some 80 doctors cách tăn

458. The post-graduate training of doctors in the Government Service for higher diplomas necessary for appointment to Specialist clinical posts in general medicine, surgery, orthopaedics, paediatrics and obstetrics and gynaecology, is under the supervision of a Panel on Post-Graduate Medical Education which consists of the University Clinical Professors, the Government Clinical Specialists and members of the Medical Headquarters staff. The Panel meets twice yearly to review the progress of the doctors under training and to make recom- mendations regarding the award of study leave overseas leading to higher qualifications.

459. A number of clinical posts in the major hospitals are recognized for post-graduate training by the majority of the examining bodies in Britain. The Examining Board in England of the Royal College of Surgeons has held examinations annually in Hong Kong for Part I of the Diploma in Medical Radiology both in Diagnosis and Therapy during the past three years.

460. The programme of training of doctors for the post-graduate qualifications necessary to staff the clinical units in the new Queen Elizabeth Hospital is now well advanced and the supply of well qualified

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