X1000306-1976-77_Part01 — Page 5

Reformen Library

|Public Records Office

Ref. No.

Acc. No.

Bogot

4957 Date 20 DEC 1977

I.

ADMINISTRATION

(Tables 1-6)

The Medical and Health Department is responsible

for administering services which provide medical and health care for the community of Hong Kong. To provide a satisfactory service, a staff establishment of 15,630 of which 921 were medical staff of all grades and 5,828 were nursing staff was needed in 1976.

The Department's expenditure for the financial year was $665,838,447 which represented 10.10 per cent of the total public expenditure of Hong Kong.

There are four statutory councils to deal with the registration of doctors, dentists, nurses and midwives and two boards to handle matters relating to pharmacy and poisons and radiation.

General

IL.

VITAL STATISTICS

(Tables

7-201

The estimated population of Hong Kong in the middle

of 1976 was 4,443,800. About 30 per cent were under 15, and 9 per cent over 60 years of age. The general state of health was favourable and reflected the rapid development of medical and health services.

Birth Rate

The crude birth rate was 17.2 per thousand population, as compared with the rate for 1975 which was 17.8.