enough room in the existing homes for the aged to accommodate all who need care. A new home for five hundred has just been completed by the Hong Kong Chinese Christian Churches Union, the Sin Tin Toa Home for the Aged has recently been expanded and the Chi Lin Home at Ngau Chi Wan can now take fifty more elderly women. Accommoda- tion for about two thousand old people is now available and there are plans for further expansion.
RECORDS
59. A list of voluntary organizations and institutions for the handicap- ped and the aged is printed at Appendix 11, and the total registrations with the Department in various categories of handicap is at Appendix 12, where annual registrations for certain years may be compared. It is necessary to emphasize that these figures are of voluntary registration by applicants for the rehabilitation and welfare services provided by the Department and include some who have been referred by outside agencies for one reason or another and found to be within the definitions shown. In the cases of the blind, deaf and mentally defective the declared aim is to have a comprehensive register, but there is not yet sufficient staff to take effective steps to achieve this. The total number of handicap- ped within the definition adopted for each class remains a matter for informed guess work only.
SUICIDES
60. During the year, four hundred and seventy attempted suicides were referred to the Department for interview, mainly by the police; three hundred and ten were found to have complex problems which required further attention. They were given every possible help in solving, or at least facing, these problems, by way of counselling and support in dealing with personal relationships or other social difficulties, or assistance in obtaining employment or medical treatment, or in some cases material and financial help. Slightly more women than men attempted suicide and two of the commonest precipitating factors are personal conflicts and financial stress, with illness ranking third in order of importance. Eighty persons with evident symptoms of mental illness were referred to the psychiatric service of the Medical and Health Department.
SOCIALLY HANDICAPPED
61. The resettlement of discharged tubercular patients and cured leprosy (Hansen's disease) patients, and of drug addicts after clinical
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