not in a special school or club. More than 80 deaf children were given financial assistance towards schooling by the Lutheran World Federa- tion while 57 were issued with hearing aids purchased with charitable funds. The Department successfully placed 15 deaf persons in employ- ment during the year, most of them in textile factories.
70. Expanded facilities for physically handicapped person became available during the year but at the same time the number registered increased from 2,020 to 2,353. The most important development was the opening of a medical rehabilitation centre by the Hong Kong Society for Rehabilitation; this centre, which aims particularly at restoring victims of industrial accidents to full or partial working capacity as rapidly as possible, had 56 persons under treatment at the close of the year. The Princess Alexandra Children's Home, operated by the British Red Cross Society, was opened on 25th July, 1962; it quickly reached its capacity of 60 crippled children. At the same time the Children's Convalescent Home at Sandy Bay increased its capacity from 54 to 108 beds for children in need of post-operative care. As an addition to the two vocational training centres run in collaboration with the Hong Kong Society for Rehabilitation at Wong Tai Sin and Kwun Tong, a sheltered workshop in bead necklace-making for crippled persons was opened at Tai Hang Tung during the year. The Depart- ment found employment, mainly in factories, for thirty crippled persons.
71. Further progress has been made in implementing the recom- mendations made by Dr. L. T. HILLIARD in his 1960 Report on the Problem of Mental Deficiency in Hong Kong. 630 mentally sub-normal persons had been registered by the Department as against 438 at the end of the previous year, an increase of over 40%; the reason for this very large increase is almost certainly that word has begun to reach families with mentally retarded members that some services are at last available for them. A temporary home for 43 severe grade mental defectives was opened by the Department of Medical and Health Services at the Tung Wah Hospital in February and was rapidly filled. It is expected that this home will eventually be replaced by a 200-bed institution in the New Territories. The day centre for 40 mentally retarded children at Tsan Yuk continued to operate to capacity and another such centre is planned in Kowloon. Provision has been made at the Aberdeen centre for some 60 mentally defective children now in residential care at North Point Camp.
72. Chinese culture has traditionally attached great importance to the care of aged members of the family. Consequently, the care of old
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