82
the breakdown in the relationship between Dr. Sibree and Dr. Gibson had significant effects on the extent, direction and control of the maternity service in the pre-World War II period.
A Maternity Service for Chinese Women: the antecedents.
The view of Western doctors that traditional midwifery in Hong Kong was problematic is abundantly clear in the reports of government medical officers in the late nineteenth century. Horrific tales were told of the septic interventions of traditional midwives in difficult confinements, and reports of the cases of puerperal fever with high maternal mortality attended at the Civil Hospital. As well, there were concerns about the high infant death rates at the French and Italian Orphanages, the subject of an enquiry in 1887, and the practice of abandoning dead infants on hillsides, a public health threat, especially in years of plague. That is, the involvement of government was driven by both humanitarian and pragmatic concerns at a time when concern about infant health was high in England itself and the Colonial Office was demanding attention to the problem in Hong Kong.
By the turn of the century, there were already several developments that made attention to maternal health viable. On the one hand there were steps to the professionalisation of medicine, and on the other to the recognition of the need for specialised services for women. The practice of Western medicine was becoming more scientific and doctors were better trained. That training required hospital beds and patients. The Medical Registration Ordinance of 1884 that licensed Western doctors and the establishment of the Alice Memorial Hospital with the Hongkong College of Medicine for Chinese in 1887 acknowledged these changing needs. Nursing also was becoming professional, a vocation for ladies. The first English women nurses sent to the Civil Hospital in 1890 were well received as replacements for the untrained and uncivil wardsmasters, many of whom had been dismissed for theft and alcoholism.
At the time of Queen Victoria's Jubilee in 1897 a hospital for women was supported by public subscription, resulting in the Victoria Hospital for Women and Children and a Training Institute for Nurses. Although this hospital was to be available to women of ‘all ranks, classes, creeds and races', its location in Barker Road made it inaccessible to poor women, and it is clear that the Training Institute was to produce midwives for European mothers. Morbidity amongst Chinese women led to the
82
the breakdown in the relationship between Dr. Sibree and Dr. Gibson had significant effects on the extent, direction and control of the maternity service in the pre-World War II period.
A Maternity Service for Chinese Women: the antecedents.
The view of Western doctors that traditional midwifery in Hong Kong was problematic is abundantly clear in the reports of govemment medical officers in the late nineteenth century. Horrific tales were told of the septic interventions of traditional midwives in difficult confinements, and reports of the cases of puerperal fever with high maternal mortality attended at the Civil Hospital. As well, there were concerns about the high infant death rates at the French and Italian Orphanages, the subject of an enquiry in 1887, and the practice of abandoning dead infants on billsides, a public health threat, especially in years of plague. That is, the involvement of government was driven by both humanitarian and pragmatic concerns at a time when concern about infant health was high in England itself and the Colonial Office was demanding attention to the problem in Hong Kong.
By the turn of the century, there were already several developments that made attention to maternal health viable. On the one hand there were steps to the professionalisation of medicine, and on the other to the recognition of the need for specialised services for women. The practice of Western medicine was becoming more scientific and doctors were better trained. That training required hospital beds and patients. The Medical Registration Ordinance of 1884 that licensed Western doctors and the establishment of the Alice Memorial Hospital with the Hongkong College of Medicine for Chinese in 1887 acknowledged these changing needs. Nursing also was becoming professional, a vocation for ladies. The first English women nurses sent to the Civil Hospital in 1890 were well received as replacements for the untrained and uncivil wardsmasters, many of whom had been dismissed for theft and alcoholism.
At the time of Queen Victoria's Jubilee in 1897 a hospital for women was supported by public subscription, resulting in the Victoria Hospital for Women and Children and a Training Institute for Nurses. Although this hospital was to be available to women of ‘all ranks, classes, creeds and races',' its location in Barker Road made it inaccessible to poor women, and it is clear that the Training Institute was to produce midwives for European mothers. Morbidity amongst Chinese women led to the
No comments yet.
Private notes are available after approval.