Sessional_Paper_1896 — Page 949

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4. Limitation of the number of beds in each of the existing wards to 16.

5. Improvements in the heating appliances of the wards and the provision of some means of heating the Receiving Ward.

6. Systematic removal of excreta, and all slops and refuse, and the provision of a suitable store in connection with an outside latrine, where tubs and pots can be placed pending their early removal.

7. The removal of the outside latrine which is within four feet of the windows of the Receiving Ward.

*

8. The provision of a permanent water supply to the Hospital by the erection of a suitable storage tank.

9. The abolition of the use of verandahs, cupboards, passages and other similar places as sleeping places, and the provision of adequate sleeping and living quarters for the attendants and also for the Chinese doctors whose quarters are at present over- crowded.

14th January, 1896.

FRANCIS W. CLARK. Medical Officer of Health.

(Minute by the Medical Officer of Health.)

* See Appendix No.

VI, page

EXL

THE SECRETARY,

I beg to submit the following comments upon your memorandum* :----

Paragraph 3. I am not aware that bath-rooms and latrines are about to be erected in connection with the wards of the North Block. If this is so, the decision must have been

very recent.

Paragraph 4. In estimating the capacity of the wards I have allowed 1,000 cubic feet per head; in England 1,200 cubic feet per head is considered necessary in General Hospitals, and 2,000 cubic feet per head in Fever Hospitals.

Paragraph 6. I have myself seen a person sleeping in a cupboard beneath a flight of stairs (the cupboard being totally dark and not ventilated), and I therefore do not feel bound to accept what the Directorate may have said to the contrary.

Paragraph 7. In my opinion the verandahs around a ward containing sick persons, many of whom have open wounds, is the very worst place, from a sanitary point of view, for destitute persons to congregate and sleep. If the Chinese community is not prepared to provide any better accommodation than this for its destitute members, I consider the Government of the Colony would be wise to return all such to their native places on the mainland (or elsewhere) at its own expense.

Paragraph 8. I think that even the temporary occupation of the Ko Fong wards should not be countenanced by the Board, seeing that their occupation is a breach of section 6 of Ordinance 15 of 1894, and that the Board's officials are working hard to enforce the provisions of this Ordinance throughout the Colony generally. In sanitary matters, as you know, what was permissible, or even commendable, fifteen or sixteen years ago, is not necessarily to be tolerated to-day.

Paragraph 9. I agree with you that the wards of the Tung Wa Hospital ought to be furnished with water-closets of some simple pattern.