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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 awards of study leave overseas.

450. 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 and experienced clinicians is assured in practically all the specialized fields.

DENTAL STAFF

451. No undergraduate training in Dentistry has yet been established in Hong Kong, but Government awards annually scholarships for the study of dentistry overseas. In February, 1963, three students joined the University of Melbourne, Australia, and, for the first time, three Hong Kong scholars were accepted for dental studies by the University of Otago, New Zealand. Altogether, since the scholarship scheme started in 1954, twenty-one students have returned to Hong Kong as qualified dental surgeons.

452. With the appointment of eight Student Dental Technicians in January/February, 1963, the third class of such students embarked on their four-year training. Initial training was transferred during 1962 to the dental laboratory of the Hong Kong Technical College. This labora- tory was set up by the college in 1960, and has been fully used in the evenings for the further training of dental technicians, most of whom have been in the employment of dentists in private practice. One hundred and twenty technicians were given short elementary courses in the first two years, and, in 1962-63, thirty places were available on two concur- rent 30-week evening courses of a more advanced nature. Judging by the heavy demand for places, these advanced courses, like the elementary courses before them, are fulfilling a very great need among privately employed dental technicians, many of whom have never received any formal training in their craft.

453. Dental Nurses, who carry out preventive and minor operative work in the Government Service under the supervision of Dental officers. are being trained in New Zealand and Penang. Six of these dental auxiliaries are now employed in the public service in Hong Kong. A further two student dental nurses were sent to Penang under World Health Organization scholarships during 1962.

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NURSES

454. During the year, courses of training continued satisfactorily in General Nursing, Psychiatric Nursing, Midwifery and for Health Visitors. The large increase, from 121 to 197, in the number of entrants to the General Nursing Course placed an increasingly heavy burden on the Matrons, Sister Tutors and Sisters who carry out the training,

General Nursing

455. There is full reciprocity of registration between the general nursing qualifications of the Nursing Board in Hong Kong and of the General Nursing Council of England and Wales. In the Queen Elizabeth Hospital School of Nursing and in the Nurses Training School at the Queen Mary Hospital, the medium of instruction is English, while in the other approved Nurses Training Schools, which are maintained by the Tung Wah Group of Hospitals, the Nethersole Hospital and the Hong Kong Sanatorium and Hospital, teaching is carried out in Chinese. At the end of March, 1962, the following numbers were under training as general nurses.

Women Men Toral

Government Schools of Nursing

384

60

444

Tung Wah Hospitals

287

287

Nethersole Hospital,

F53

153

Hong Kong Sanatorium and Hospital

T36

136

Tocal ...

960

60

1,020

Psychiatric Nursing

456. The School of Psychiatric Nursing at the Castle Peak Hospital, now in its third year had 56 students in training, of whom 16 were women. Although the number of entrants to the Psychiatric Nursing course increased from 23 to 26, the response is not yet sufficient to meet the demand for locally-trained psychiatric nurses. The qualification is fully recognized by the General Nursing Council of England and Wales.

Midwives

457. Registered general nurses who have trained in the Government Schools of Nursing are expected to proceed to a one-year course in midwifery, conducted in English as the teaching medium, in the maternity wards of the Queen Mary and Kowloon Hospitals. The number of nurses taking this course increased from 60 to 82, which is

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