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general purposes, medical, surgical, maternity and gynaecolo- gical, or 1.3 beds per thousand of population. In any com- munity it is generally found that out of every thousand persons at least six are in need of hospital attention of some sort at any given time. In Hong Kong this would mean 15,000 beds, or 11,500 more than exist at present. The proposed new hospital in Kowloon now being planned will provide 1,300 additional beds or just over one tenth of what is required. If 9 more hospitals of the size of the new Kowloon Hospital could be built, then Hong Kong would have adequate provision of hospital beds for general purposes, but even this would not be adequate to meet the demands for the treatment of tuberculosis, the mentally ill, or for the treatment of infectious diseases.

Government Hospitals.

86. The 11 Government hospitals comprise 2 major general hospitals. 1 mental hospital, 2 maternity hospitals, 1 major hospital for long term cases with which is combined a section for the treatment of infectious diseases, 1 isolation hospital. 2 prison hospitals, 1 small hospital for the treatment of venereal diseases and the St. John Hospital on Cheung Chau on loan from the St. John Ambulance Association. The 2 major hos- pitals are the Queen Mary (593 beds) on the island, and the Kowloon Hospital (245 beds) on the mainland. The Queen Mary Hospital is the largest in the Colony at present and is the main teaching centre for medical students and nurses. These 2 hospitals cater for the acutely ill and are the main casualty hospitals dealing with injuries and accidents. The Mental Hospital with original provision for 140 beds only, is the only institution of this nature in the Colony, and houses never less than 300 patients at any one time, usually considerably more. It is antiquated and inconvenient and it will be replaced shortly with a larger modern institution now building at Castle Peak. The 2 maternity hospitals, both on the island, differ dramatical- ly, the one, the Eastern Maternity Hospital being a small but exceedingly busy little 24 bed hospital attached to a dispensary originally built by the local Kai Fong many years ago and owing its excellent reputation largely to the devoted services of one individual doctor, while the other is the modern 200-bed Tsan

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Yuk Hospital recently opened, built and equipped to the latest standards with funds donated by the Hong Kong Jockey Club. This hospital is the main training centre for medical students in obstetrics and gynaecology and the leading school for mid- wives, providing training facilities for 70 midwives at a time. The only other large Government hospital is situated on the mainland at Lai Chi Kok in adapted premises and provides 482 beds, 208 of which are reserved for tuberculosis cases, 91 for infectious diseases and the remainder for convalescent long term cases. This hospital does not normally cater for cases of acute illnesses other than infectious diseases, and accom- modates patients requiring prolonged treatment usually trans- ferred from one or other of the 2 major general hospitals. A large percentage of the work done is orthopaedic and it is at the moment the largest orthopaedic hospital in the Colony. The isolation hospital on the island is housed in autiquated premises, once part of the original Government Civil Hospital, in the most densely populated part of the city at Sai Ying Pun and officially provides 88 beds. It cannot be claimed to be ideal or even satisfactory but it renders very excellent service and the quality of work done is of the highest standard. This hospital is also used for the instruction of medical students. The 2 prison hospitals are located within the 2 prisons, Stanley (for men) and Lai Chi Kok (for women). They are small, the male prison hospital having 70 beds and the female hospital 11, but are generally found to be adequate. A considerable per- centage of the work done is concerned with the treatment of tuberculosis and drug addiction. The Social Hygiene Hospital for women is located in Wanchai in renovated premises, once a private Japanese hospital, and provides 28 beds. With improved modern methods of treatment it is becoming less and less necessary to hospitalize cases of venereal disease but this little hospital still performs a very useful function and is tending to become more of a hospital for difficult skin diseases, The St. John Hospital on Cheung Chau, originally built for the St. John Ambulance Brigade but now run by Government by special agreement, serves as a rural general hospital for the local community and as a tuberculosis sanatorium for light or convalescent cases of tuberculosis. It provides 102 beds but

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