50. Of 345 nurses applying for registration in the general nursing part of the Register, 344 were accepted of whom 316 were from the approved Training Schools in the Colony and 28 were nurses who had trained outside Hong Kong. Some of the latter were required to sit and pass the Board's examination before registration and others were referred for further training. The remaining one application was rejected. Onc nurse, whose registration had lapsed due to absence from the Colony. was re-admitted to the Register. One name was deleted from the Register on account of death.
51. Thirteen candidates who passed the Final Examination in Psy- chiatric Nursing were registered.
52. No disciplinary investigations or inquiries took place during the year.
Midwives Board
53. The Board met quarterly and examinations were held during the months of April, July, October and January. A total of 252 candidates entered for the Board's examinations, of whom 235 were successful.
54. There were 243 applications for registration and 234 were accepted; 227 of the applicants had completed their training in Hong Kong and 7, who qualified outside Hong Kong, were accepted without further examina- tion. Of the remaining 9. one was rejected and the others, who had com- pleted Part I of the Central Midwives Board examination held in the United Kingdom. were required to undergo six months further training before sitting the Board's examination. Three names were deleted from the Register on account of death.
55. No disciplinary investigations or inquiries took place during the year.
Radiation Board
56. Two meetings were held to consider draft Radiation (Control of Radioactive Substances) Regulations and Radiation (Control of Irradiating Apparatus) Regulations. Drafting of the Regulations was still progress at the end of the year.
Medical Advisory Board
57. The Board met three times during the year. Consideration was given to the Heaf-Fox Report, the Report on Tuberculosis Research prepared by experts from the Medical Research Council of the United
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Kingdom, the Report on Development of Medical Services in Hong Kong and the Report by the Working Party on the School Medical Service in addition to other minor business.
II. PUBLIC HEALTH
GENERAL COMMENTS
58. The general level of the public health was well maintained through- out the year despite increasing densities of population in the urban areas, inadequate housing in the most congested arcas, strictly limited and restricted water supplies and some 20% of the population dependent on a nightsoil collection service for sanitation.
59. There was a slight decrease in the notifications of infectious diseases mainly due to a fall in the numbers of reported cases of tuber- culosis and of certain other respiratory diseases. There was a rise in the notifications of enteric diseases and also of chickenpox. Mention has already been made in this report of the markedly reduced incidence of poliomyelitis following the vaccination campaign held in the first quarter of 1963. The severe epidemic of measles, which commenced during the winter months of 1962, reached a peak in January, 1963. and thereafter gradually subsided.
60. In spite of widespread investigations, no cholera vibrios were found during the winter months from October, 1962 until the first case of cholera El Tor appeared in June, 1963.
VITAL STATISTICS
61. The registration of all deaths and live births occurring in the Colony is compulsory under the Births and Deaths Registration Ordinance. Still-births are not registrable but the numbers of still-born children received by cemeteries and crematoria arc recorded. Table 4 shows the annual returns for births and deaths during the past five-year period.
TABLE 4
BIRTHS AND DEATHS 1959–63
FYNA NUS
Crade Death Bate (per 1,000
Te
Erimared Mid-Year Population
Tural
Crude Live Birch Aare
Forw
live Aleska
(per 1,000
Recordeu
Deurbr
Population
Population)
1959
2,857,000
104,579 36.6
1,393
20,250
7.1
1960
2,981,000 110,667 37,1
1,680
19,046
6.4
1961
3,177,700 108,726 34.2
1,683
16,738
5.9
1962
P
1963
■
3,400,300 111,905 32.6 3,592,100 115,263 32.1
1.560
20.324
5.9
1.633
19,748
5.5
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