as consultants in medicine, surgery, obstetrics and gynaecology, ortho- paedics, pathology and paediatrics. A number of Government Specialists act as Honorary Consultants to the Tung Wab Group of Hospitals and others serve as part-time lecturers in the University clinical departments.
RADIOLOGICAL SERVICES
(See tables JB-59)
115. The Medical Department Institute of Radiology operates a service consisting of Radiodiagnosis, Radiotherapy, Radiation Physics and Clinical Photography. It serves mainly Government institutions but free consultant services are available to the Tung Wah Group of Hospitals and the Pok Oi Hospital in the New Territories. Consultant services are also available to medical practitioners in private practice on payment of a fee to Government. The institute also maintains a radiation monitoring and protection service for the Colony and under- takes teaching of medical students of the University of Hong Kong in the fundamentals of radiodiagnosis and radiotherapy.
116. With the enactment of the Regulations of the Radiation Ordinance on 1st October, 1965, a programme of inspection of premises including hospitals where irradiating apparatus and radioactive sub- stances were used by registered medical and dental practitioners outside Government service for medical purposes was commenced. A number of factories employing irradiating apparatus or radioactive substances for industrial use were also visited. At the time of these visits advice for the improvement of radiation protection facilities where required was given and this was followed by subsequent visits to ensure that the improvements suggested had been carried out before a licence to use the irradiating apparatus or radioactive substance was issued.
OPHTHALMOLOGY
(See tables 60-61)
117. This service maintains two full-time centres with surgical facilities, one on Hong Kong Island and one in Kowloon, and in addi- tion holds regular sessions at out-patient clinics in urban and rural areas. Eighty per cent of operations were performed on an out-patient basis, while the increased availability of beds due to the opening of the Queen Elizabeth Hospital enabled waiting lists to be reduced to almost negligible proportions.
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118. During the year, 467 persons were first registered as blind, a slight increase from the 423 recorded in 1964, bringing the total of blind on the register to 4,525 since the inception of the register in 1938. Of the 467 persons recorded during the year only thirty were in children under fifteen years of age. Following successful operations, some sixty-five patients were removed from the register.
119. Trends of previous years in the causation of blindness were continued, with increasing frequency of the eye diseases of advancing age and a reduction in those caused by deficiency states and trauma; senike cataract and glaucoma have replaced keratomalacia as the predominant causes, and amongst children, blindness due to the latter disease is now comparatively rare.
PHARMACEUTICAL SERVICE
(See table 62)
120. This service supplies all Government medical institutions with pharmaceutical preparations, drugs, dressings, surgical instruments, medical gases, etc. In addition to the usual in-patient and out-patient dispensing services provided in hospitals and clinics, two manufacturing units are maintained, one on the island and one in Kowloon for the preparation in bulk of a wide variety of pharmaceuticals. In the two largest hospitals, sterile preparation units supply all the hospital depart- ments with their requirements for all intravenous fluids and with an extensive range of injections.
121. The Central Sterik Supply Department at Queen Elizabeth Hospital is gradually being extended to include the requirements of Kowloon Hospital. A similar department is being provided as part of the extensions to the Queen Mary Hospital. At Queen Elizabeth Hospital there was a considerable rise in items processed in this depart- ment due to a 10% increase in operations performed at the hospital.
MEDICAL SOCIAL WORK
122. The expansion of the medical services and the increasing emphasis on rehabilitation in its various aspects necessitated a large Intake of new staff this year. To meet the need for training new entrants as well as for development of skills and knowledge throughout the section, a senior member of the staff was assigned to initiate a pro- gramme of staff development and student training. During the year under review 2 Medical Social Workers left for the United Kingdom
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