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Lai Chi Kok Female Prison Hospital.

215. This small hospital of 12 beds is situated within the precincts of the Colony's female prison. Medical attention is provided by one of the medical officers from the near by Lai Chi Kok Hospital. Total admissions numbered 129, of which 7 were maternity cases.

Government Assisted Hospitals

216. These are five in number. They are operated by charitable associations, namely, the Tung Wah Hospitals Advisory Board, the London Missionary Society and the Hong Kong Anti-Tuberculosis Association.

Tung Wah Group of Hospitals.

217. The Tung Wah Board of Directors, whose charitable activities are not restricted to medical matters, are responsible for the running of three hospitals, two on Hong Kong Island, namely, the Tung Wah Hospital and the Tung Wah Eastern Hospital, and one in Kowloon, the Kwong Wah Hospital. The first named with 495 beds is the largest, while the Kwong Wah Hospital has 404 beds and the Tung Wah Eastern Hospital 250. The administration of these hospitals is vested in the Tung Wah Hospitals Medical Committee which consists of the three prin- cipal members of the Board of Directors, the Medical Superin- tendents of the three hospitals and two advisors. The Director of Medical & Ilealth Services is the Chairman. The object of these institutions is to provide for the sick poor, and treatment is free, but there are, in each hospital, a small number of private beds for which charges are levied.

218. Although the bed strength of these institutions is as stated above, invariably there are considerably more persons being treated than these figures would indicate, even to the extent of 200 or more. In certain sections of the hospitals, particularly those devoted to tuberculosis cases and cases of chronic illness, overcrowding is extreme.

219. Each of these hospitals has a nurses training school which is recognized by the Colony's Nursing Board. medium of instruction is Chinese.

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The

220. Standards of equipping and staffing these institutions are not as high as in the Government Hospitals but, nevertheless, extremely fine work is carried out and the value of the hospitals to the community is very great indeed. During the year, the total number of in-patients treated in the three hospitals was 43,782, as compared with 45,441 in the previous year. Total out-patients attendances numbered 218,509, as compared with 174,395 în 1951. The Government subvention to this group of hospitals for the financial year 1952/53 amounted to $3,750,000.

Nethersole Hospital.

221. This hospital is owned and operated by the London Missionary Society but receives financial assistance from Government. For the financial year 1952/53 the Government subvention amounted to $111,700. The hospital has accommoda- tion for 145 general in-patients and for 40 maternity cases. During the year under review, the hospital was busier than ever before. Admissions numbered 5,306 as compared with 1,982 in the previous year. In the maternity section there were 1,593 births and maternal deaths numbered 2. Out-patients treated numbered 45,924 as compared with 44,101 in 1951. Resident medical staff numbered eight. The hospital is a recognized school for the training of nurses.

Ruttonjee Sanatorium.

222. This institution is owned and operated by the Hong Kong Anti-Tuberculosis Association, but the day-to-day manage- ment is vested in a Sanatorium Management Board of which the Director of Medical and Health Services is a member. The number of beds available was 160 and these were reserved for the pulmonary form of the disease. Priority of admission is given to the employees of the principal subscribers to the Asso- ciation but, as has been stated earlier in this report, all cases are admitted through the Government Tuberculosis Clinics.

223. The number of admissions during the year was 352 as compared with 256 in 1951. There is also an out-patient depart- ment which is attended by patients after discharge from hospital and the total number of attendances here was 5,145.

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