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seat overseas for higher professional qualification and to obtain the necessary clinical experience in specialized subjects.

231. In addition to the co-operation of university professors, there are arrangements for higher professional examinations in Hong Kong by the Royal Colleges of Medicine, Surgery, Obstetrics and Gynae- cology, Pathology, and the Faculty of Anaesthesia.

232. Besides full-pay study leave, other financial assistance include the New Zealand Medical Aid Programme, the World Health Organiza- tion Aid Programme, the Sino-British Trust, the Commonwealth Scholarship, and the Li Po Chun Scholarship for the training of doctors overseas. Last year, 26 government doctors were enabled by these means to acquire higher qualifications in their respective fields.

DENTAL STAFF

233. No training in dentistry is available in Hong Kong. but the Government annually awards scholarships overseas for the study of dentistry. Four such scholarships were awarded during the year-three for study at the University of Otago, New Zealand, and one for study at Guy's Hospital, London. One graduate returned to Hong Kong, bringing the total number of such qualified dentists to 68 from a total of 93 scholarships so far awarded.

234. In-service training in dental technology for government student dental technicians was suspended in 1972 because of the absence of now recruits, while evening classes for dental technicians in the private sector were held at the Hong Kong Technical College.

235. During the year, two dental officers were sent abroad for further study in prosthetic dentistry and dental health tutorship in the United Kingdom and New Zealand. A dental nurse who was sent on a 12-month dental nurse tutor course in New Zealand under a World Health Organization fellowship, returned to Hong Kong after completion of her studies. Seven dental surgery assistants were in Singapore and Penang for training in dental nursing under World Health Organization fellowships.

Nurses

NURSING STAFF

236. There are three government hospital schools of nursing. Those at the Queen Elizabeth and Queen Mary hospitals are general schools,

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and the one at the Castle Peak Hospital is a psychiatric nursing school. Training at govemment schools and at the Caritas Medical Centre is in English. There are also approved schools at the Tung Wah group of hospitals, the Alice Ho Miu Ling Nethersole Hospital and the Hong Kong Sanatorium and Hospital, where instruction is in Cantonese. Examinations are held by the Nursing Board of Hong Kong, and there is full reciprocity of registration between the Board and the General Nursing Council of England and Wales.

Enrolled Nurses

237. Two types of course are held for enrolled nurses. The general course lasts two years. It is conducted at the Kowloon Hospital. The psychiatric course, also two years, is held at the Castle Peak Hospital. Enrolment examinations are held by the Hong Kong Nursing Board, but there is no reciprocity between the Board and the General Nursing Council of England and Wales.

Post-graduate Courses

238. Eight nurses returned to Hong Kong from overseas, having successfully gained post-graduate certificates in nursing education. nursing administration, ophthalmic nursing, dietetics, theatre-service- centre technique, and venereal disease nursing. A further nine nurses have gone overseas to study nursing education, nursing administration. dietetics, central-sterile-supply technique, and burn and plastic surgery nursing.

Midwifery

239. For registered general nurses, a one-year course in midwifery is beld three times a year. For student midwives who are not registered nurses, a two-year course of training at the Tsan Yuk Hospital, and to a limited extent at other approved training schools, is accepted by the Midwives Board for entry to its examinations.

240. Due to the limited scope of domiciliary midwifery in Hong Kong, adequate practical training in this aspect of midwifery cannot be given, and full reciprocity of recognition of midwifery qaulifications with the Central Midwives Board of England and Wales is not possible. Only the one-year post-graduate courses conducted in English, held at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital and the Caritas Medical Centre, have reciprocity with the Part I Examination of the Central Midwives Board of England and Wales.

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