X1000307-1950-51_Part01 — Page 30

(1) Government Assisted Hospitals.

281. There are five hospitals in the Colony run by charitable institu- tions which receive a considerable grant from Government. Three of them, known generally as the Chinese hospitals, and comprising the Tung Wah Hospital with 467 beds, the Kwong Wah Hospital with 340 beds, and the Tung Wah Eastern Hospital with 230 beds, are part of the charitable work carried out by the Tung Wah Board of Directors. The actual ad- ministration of the hospitals is under the control of the Tung Wah Hospital Committee comprising the three Principal Directors for the year with the three Medical Superintendents and two advisers, and is under the chair- manship of the Director of Medical and Health Services.

232. The two other assisted hospitals are the Nethersole and Affiliated Hospitals, associated with the London Mission Society, with 140 beds, and the Hong Kong Anti-Tuberculosis Association's Ruttonjee Sanatorium with 130 beds.

(7) The Chinese Hospitals.

233. Treatment in these hospitals is for the benefit of the poor, but there are a small number of private wards. During the year the total number of cases treated in these three hospitals was 40,909 as compared with 33,793 in the previona year.

234. The official bed accommodation is somewhat misleading in these hospitals, as they endeavour to meet with any demands made upon them, and the number of patients in both the Tung Wah and Kwong Wah Hos- pitals often exceeded by two hundred or more the official number of beds. Each of these hospitals runs an out-patient department, and the total com- bined attendancea amounted to 139,616, which compares with 128,815 in 1940.

(&) Nethersole Hospital.

235. This hospital also caters for the poor in Hong Kong but, in general, a small charge is made for both out-patient attendances and in- patient treatment. 4,725 in-patients were treated as compared with 4,634 in 1949, and the respective figures for maternity cases were 1,647 and 1,414.

236. In the out-patient department there were 56,263 attendances compared with 80,341 in previous years.

237. Number of beds as at November, 1950:

Main Block

Maternity Block

50

123

40

(4)

Ruttonjee Sanatorium,

288. This sanatorium is under the administration of the Sanatorium Management Committee on behalf of the Hong Kong Anti-Tuberculosis Association.

239. During the year the number of beds was increased from 120 to 130, and a total number of 319 cases were treated, with 12 deaths.

240. The close liaison between the sanatorium doctors and the govern- ment tuberculosis clínic (Harcourt Centre) referred to in my last report continued during the year, and the combined work of these two units providea a very valuable service to the Coromunity.

(m) Private Hospitals,

241. In Annexure L is shown the cases treated as in-patients and out- patients at the main private hospitals in the Colony.

() Violet Peel Polyclinic.

242. This Clinic is the third largest out-patient department in the Colony, and is situated on the island. There was a re-arrangement of the work during the year, and certain specialist clinics were held there in the afternoons.

243. 75,742 new cases were treated with a total number of attendances of 126,804, the corresponding figures for 1949 being 59,839 and 99,482. During the summer, attendances at this clinic became so great that large queues began to form and a "black market" in attendance tickets came into being. However, with the introduction of the charge of $1, the trivial cases ceased to attend and the number of patients decreased some- what, but it seems probable that this decrease was largely a seasonal change, as towards the latter part of the financial year the number of attendances was again increasing, and the staff was having difficulties in competing with the numbers.

244. The establishment of a night clinic as a means of dealing with this increase in attendances is under consideration.

(6) Stanley Prison Hospital.

245. This hospital, which is incorporated in the prison itself, has three wards of 16 beds each and six isolation cells. A total of 1.156 patients were treated during the year, with a daily average of 36.

246. 44,619 prisoners reported sick, and there were 12 deaths from natural causes. There were 7 deaths from judicial hanging.

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