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charges made by some doctors lie beyond the reach of ordinary people.
I admire the sincerity and enthusiasm of the leaders of our professional bodies in protecting the interests of their members. However, they seem to have overlooked their responsibility to extend professional knowledge and skills to benefit the whole population. With the co-operation of Government authorities they have discouraged measures to increase the number of doctors, and apparently believing that medical practice is just a form of free enterprise and that its members should be left to compete among themselves. As a result, a few eminent practitioners make over a million dollars a year while many who charge HK$5 to HK$10 per consultation suffer from this so-called "shortage of patients".
Is it not yet time that the public-spirited leaders of the profession pressed for legislation requiring employers to provide free or subsidized medical benefits for their employees? I am sure that many employers would be ready to do this if only a little persuasion could be exerted. After all, Government servants have been enjoying such advantages all these years and the same holds true of "home staff" of British and American firms. By so doing the question of shortage of patients would be solved and at the same time hundreds of thousands of employees in various trades could be benefited.
From the above, it is obvious that the establishment of a medical school in the Chinese University together with the further expansion of the medical faculty in Hong Kong University offers the solution to the Medical Department staff shortage and will also promote enormously the medical welfare of the people at large.
For over twenty years Government dental services have been provided essentially for the benefit of Government servants and their dependants, pensioners and prisoners and, only to a very limited extent for the general public.
The Annual Report of the Medical and Health Department 1955 stated that the ratio of dentists to the population was 1 to every 2,200 in the United Kingdom, 1 to 1,800 in the United States and 1 to 8,000 in Hong Kong. The condition has certainly not been improved since as in 1955 there were 355 registered dentists for a population of 2.27 million in 1955 and today, for a population of 4 million, we have only 457 dentists.
The shortage becomes much worse in view of the fact that among 457 registered dentists, only 215 are properly qualified while the majority of 242 registered most of them in the 1940's do not have post-secondary special training, and this group of people will be approaching their retiring age very soon.
Hong Kong has no dental school. After years of investigation Government agreed as long ago as 1959 in principle to establish a faculty of dental science in the University of Hong Kong. Ten long years have passed, over a million has been added to the population and the public was recently informed that the time is still not yet ripe for a dental school in Hong Kong.
The Hong Kong Dental Society is to be commended in that it has for many years demanded that a dental school be established to increase the supply of qualified dentists. I quote an extract from the Dental Policy Report of the Hong Kong Dental Society published in 1967:-
... the establishment of a dental school in Hong Kong is inevitable as a long term object in order to maintain equilibrium between supply and demand for treatment. Sending dental scholars abroad for training can only be a temporary measure and must not be taken as a permanent means of increasing our dental manpower, especially when other Commonwealth universities are becoming increasingly unable to accept Hong Kong dental scholars.
A few months ago a good deal of publicity was given to an incident relating to the attitude of nursing staff in the casualty room of our largest and best equipped hospital. Now and then, moreover, unfavourable comments on our Government nurses have appeared in the correspondence columns of various newspapers.
One who cares to study the problem will find these criticisms unfortunate and rather unfair as in regard to nurses almost every Government institution is badly understaffed. Nurses are also human beings, liable to become tired, frustrated and irritable when overworked.
Furthermore, their morale is adversely affected by their receiving less pay than their male colleagues. Only lately Government has declared that equal pay for nurses will be deferred. Since over 95% of the nursing profession are females and as early as 1955, nurses in the United Kingdom were already receiving equal pay, I am rather curious to know how our medical authorities came to lose the battle with the Financial Secretary for equal pay for all nursing staff. I also wonder how long our medical authorities intend to take advantage of our hardworking nurses' patience.
The standard of Government nursing is chiefly affected by its being understaffed. I am not referring to the standard of training they receive, which is certainly very high, nor am I referring to a few emergency units in a few large hospitals or to private wards, but to
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Page 168 of 237
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Page 167 of 237
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charges made by some doctors lie beyond the reach of ordinary people.
I admire the sincerity and enthusiasm of the leaders of our professional bodies in protecting the interests of their members. However, they seem to have overlooked their responsibility to extend professional knowledge and skills to benefit the whole population. With the co-operation of Government authorities they have discouraged measures to increase the number of doctors, and apparently believing that medical practice is just a form of free enterprise and that its members should be left to compete among themselves. As a result, a few eminent practitioners make over a million dollars a year while many who charge HK$5 to HK$10 per consultation suffer from this so-called "shortage of patients".
Is it not yet time that the public-spirited leaders of the profession pressed for legislation requiring employers to provide free or subsidized medical benefits for their employees? I am sure that many employers would be ready to do this if only a little persuasion could be exerted. After all, Govern- ment servants have been enjoying such advantages all these years and the same holds true of "home staff" of British and American firms. By so doing the question of shortage of patients would be solved and at the same time hundreds of thousands of employees in various trades could be benefited.
From the above, it is obvious that the establishment of a medical school in the Chinese University together with the further expansion of the medical faculty in Hong Kong University offers the solution to the Medical Department staff shortage and will also promote enormously the medical welfare of the people at large.
For over twenty years Government dental services have been provided essentially for the benefit of Government servants and their dependants, pensioners and prisoners and, only to a very limited extent for the general public.
The Annual Report of the Medical and Health Department 1955 stated that the ratio of dentists to the population was 1 to every 2,200 in the United Kingdom, 1 to 1,800 in the United States and 1 to 8,000 in Hong Kong. The condition has certainly not been improved since as in 1955 there were 355 registered dentists for a population of 2.27 million in 1955 and today, for a population of 4 million, we have only 457 dentists.
The shortage becomes much worse in view of the fact that among 457 registered dentists, only 215 are properly qualified while the
!
I.
HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL
311
majority of 242 registered most of them in the 1940's do not have post-secondary special training, and this group of people will be approaching their retiring age very soon.
Hong Kong has no dental school. After years of investigation Government agreed as long ago as 1959 in principle to establish a faculty of dental science in the University of Hong Kong. Ten long years have passed, over a million has been added to the population and the public was recently informed that the time is still not yet ripe for a dental school in Hong Kong.
The Hong Kong Dental Society is to be commended in that it has for many years demanded that a dental school be established to increase the supply of qualified dentists. I quote an extract from the Dental Policy Report of the Hong Kong Dental Society published in 1967:-
. . . . the establishment of a dental school in Hong Kong is inevitable as a long term object in order to maintain equilibrium between supply and demand for treatment. Sending dental scholars abroad for training can only be a temporary measure and must not be taken as a permanent means of increasing our dental manpower, especially when other Commonwealth univer- sities are becoming increasingly unable to accept Hong Kong dental scholars."
A few months ago a good deal of publicity was given to an incident relating to the attitude of nursing staff in the casualty room of our largest and best equipped hospital. Now and then, moreover, unfavourable comments on our Government nurses have appeared in the correspondence columns of various newspapers.
One who cares to study the problem will find these criticisms unfortunate and rather unfair as in regard to nurses almost every Government institution is badly understaffed. Nurses are also human beings, liable to become tired, frustrated and irritable when overworked.
Furthermore, their morale is adversely affected by their receiving less pay than their male colleagues. Only lately Government has declared that equal pay for nurses will be deferred. Since over 95% of the nursing profession are females and as early as 1955, nurses in the United Kingdom were already receiving equal pay, I am rather curious to know how our medical authorities came to lose the battle with the Financial Secretary for equal pay for all nursing staff. I also wonder how long our medical authorities intend to take advantage of our hardworking nurses' patience.
The standard of Government nursing is chiefly affected by its being understaffed. I am not referring to the standard of training they receive, which is certainly very high, nor am I referring to a few emergency units in a few large hospitals or to private wards, but to
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