medical practitioners in private practice on a limited scale. The Radiation Physics Division is responsible for the operation of the Radiological Workshop which provides a maintenance service for Government radiological equipment and also of a film-badge radiation monitoring service for the whole Colony. These duties are in addition to its main function in assisting the first two divisions in their routine work. The Radiobiology Division is responsible for investigating radio- biological and cancer problems to help the Radiotherapy Division in its work and also for assisting it in the training of radiotherapists. The Institute also undertakes the training of medical undergraduates of the Hong Kong University in Clinical Radiology and Radiological Anatomy. The Radiotherapy Division also operates a Colony-wide Cancer Registry.
115. Under the direction of the Radiation Board the Radiation Physics Division carries out a programme of visits to premises where irradiating apparatus or radioactive substances are used, to give advice on radiation protection and ensure that adequate arrangements are being made for the protection of radiation workers and the public in the proximity of such premises.
116. In the field of research the Radiotherapy Division is con- tinuing its collaboration with the International Agency for Research on Cancer in the investigation of the Epidemiology of Nasopharyngeal Carcinoma, as well as carrying a part of this research independently. In addition this division is also collaborating with the Department of Epidemiology of Harvard University in a study of the urinary oestrogen profiles of selected North American and Asian populations to test a hypothesis concerning the aetiology of breast carcinoma. The cost of these 3 research projects is borne respectively by the International Agency for Research on Cancer, the Hong Kong Anti-Cancer Society, and jointly by the American Cancer Society and the World Health Organization: while accommodation facilities are provided by Govern- ment to carry out such studies.
OPHTHALMOLOGY
(Tables 62–63)
117. This service maintains three full-time centres with surgical facilities and in addition holds regular sessions at out-patient clinics in urban and rural areas. 56% of the major operations were performed on an out-patient basis, and increased availability of beds enabled waiting lists to remain at almost negligible proportions.
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118. During the year the number of persons first registered as blind was 226, including 10 under the age of 15 years. Trends of previous years in the causation of blindness continued, with increasing frequency of the eye diseases of advancing age, and a reduction in those caused by deficiency states and trauma; senile cataract and glaucoma have replaced keratomalacia as the predominant causes; amongst children the main cause of blindness is congenital defect, while blindness due to keratomalacia is now comparatively rare.
PHARMACEUTICAL SERVICE
(Table 64)
119.
This service is concerned with the enforcement of the Ordinance dealing with Dangerous Drugs, Pharmacy and Poisons, and Antibiotics as well as the control, manufacture and supply of drugs, and the supply of dressings, medical and surgical instruments and sundries to hospitals, clinics, health centres and other units of the Department. Two main depots, one in Hong Kong Island and one in Kowloon, manufacture and distribute some 250 different types of pharmaceutical products to these institutions. In the two largest hospitals sterile preparation units supply all the hospital departments with their requirements of all intravenous fluids and with an extensive range of injections.
120. Central sterile supply departments are maintained at Queen Mary Hospital on Hong Kong Island and at Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Kowloon. These have been extended to include the sterile require- ments of Tang Shiu Kin Hospital, Tsan Yuk Hospital, Kowloon Hospital and other institutions.
MEDICAL SOCIAL WORK
121. The expansion of the medical services and the increasing emphasis on rehabilitation in its various aspects continued to make heavy demands on the services of Medical Social Workers. The medical social service of the Hong Kong Division with its head office at Queen Mary Hospital continued to deal with an increasing number of patients treated at Queen Mary Hospital. The allocation during the year of 78 beds at Grantham Hospital as convalescent beds for chest and heart cases from Queen Mary Hospital has resulted an extension of the service to patients transferred to the Grantham Hospital. The medical social workers of the Hong Kong Division also undertake medical social work in Tsan Yuk Hospital. Sai Ying Pun Infectious Disease Hospital, Tang Shiu Kin Hospital, Sai Ying Pun Jockey Club
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