326
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THE HONGKONG WEEKLY PRESS AND
INFECTIOUS DISEASE MEASURES., knowledge of the Public Health sud Building because of their"
ALLEGED UNFAIR TREATMENT.
Following is a copy of a letter addressed to Mr. G. A. Woodcock, the Secretary of the Sanitary Board :-----
Hongkong, April 23rd, 1906. Sir,-In reference to the procedure hilberto adopted by the Sanitary Board in carrying out the bye-laws for the pravention of infectious and contagious diseases, especially plague, it may be interesting for members to know that the many hardships and sufferings en- tailed thereby have so alarmed the Chinese that they continue to conceal their sick and abandon their dead against the practic and custom of their own country, in spite of efforts to render them every assistance they may be in want of.
The questions I asked at the last meeting relate to these hardships and sufferings. Before proceeding further I should like to offer a few observations ou the replies there :
in
at use
Byelaw 4 does not in my opinion empower the Medical Officer of Healta to compel the contacts of plague patients to wear the clothes provided by the Sanitary Bord. It refers only to the removal of clothing, eta. I an inclined to think that the Board's officers have, ev-n in this matter, carried the law too far in removing the clothing looked up in boxes not
the tim",
Roiled nor
by discharges from infected persons. If the con- tacts wish to wear clean suits of their own, pending the disinfection of the infected suits, why should the Sanitary Board object to their so doing, thus not only causing them trouble and misery but also subj-o ing them to indignity?
The reply to question 2 is rather evasive. If the contention is that, once clothing having been exposed and handled in a plague house, it is liable to infection, way should the clothes of the Board's officers and coolies who handled the infected clothing of the o nfacts and worked for hours in a plague house be not submitted to the 8 me process of disinfection before they are allowed to go elsewhere? If the theory holds good these men having worked in a plague house are bound to carry, if not more, as much infection as the contacts themselves,
defilement.
Reply says that special precautions are taken by practitioners and officers of the Board to protect their clothing from may 88 V for certain that they do not immediately after attending a plague case take off their infected clo hes and send them in a covered bas at to the di-infec tion, and when they change their defiled cloth. ing they do not wear s ecial clothing supplied by the Sanitary B ard, but their own. I should say the clothing of those living in the same house as a plague patient runs no more risk of infection than theirs.
Reply bears out the fact that, in addition to their misfortune, the inmates of a plague honse have during all these years been sub- ected to suffering from cold for want of nsufficient clothing. Had it not been noticed and reported by influential witnesses the only complaint mentioned in the reply would not have reached the ears of the proper authorities. When the disinfection and destruction of their property were being carried on, no sympathy was being extended to the sufferers, except that they were prevented from going out of sight, while they themselves were too scared to do anything.
May 5 196.
Ordionnes, extending to them any help they ing the debris about and dashing may require and thereby suppressing the con- | out with what they have destroyed, cealment of cases and the dumping of dead people themselves in the conviot-like garments b die. This work has now been carried on for provided by the Sanitary Board are watching more thau a year at a cost of about $15,000 | on with sad faces, is very jouching. - Way some per annum, but I regret having to say that, on of thos+ engaged, in the work still hare the account of the fear which has so de-ply taken heart to be rough and bullying I fail to root in the Chines‹ mind tṣrough the stringeucy | understand. of the measures enforced during the last twelve years since plague made its first appearance, and owing to the difficulty in raising sufficient funds to extend their operations, the founders' +fforts have not met with such appreciable suoress as desired.
The concealment of plague cases and the dumping of dead bodies have oft ntimes engaged the attention of the Governmout a d the Sanitary Board. At a previous discussion of these matters the Medio 1 Officer of Health (Dr. Clark) gave it as his opinion that the Chinese did it in order to save "xpense, while the members contended that it was not s^, but due to the drastic mean es enforced, the Chinese poor being always able to obtain | both free medicine and free medical at endanes from the Tang Wa Hospital, which also nuder- takes to bury at its own expense the dead of the poor.
The allegation of the Chinese members appears to have been now verified, as in addit on to the district hospital offering free medicine, coffins, etc., Mr. Ho Kam-tong, as a text of the allegation, has widely advertised on his own account to give free coffins and pay the costs of burial for the poor, and yet in a very few cases has his generosity teen availed of, and dumping, I understand, still continue .
Considering the existing circums'auces, I venture to remark that short of modifications of the procedure so persistently followed from year to year, and so long as the terrible fear in consequence thereof is not abated, the evil will ever remain to be a difficult problem.
For the information of members, I may here enumerate a few of the details which have driven the Chinese to this extreme and of which
I have had personal knowledge. It may be argued that recently a little leniency and consideration has been exercised in the carrying out of the bye-laws and some small concessions bave been granted. But all these nothing in comparision with the disturbance to domestic peace, the destruction of property, the separation of mothers from children, wives from husbands and the uumerous hardships
the Chinese havs to endure.
are as
At ordinary times when a death occurs in a Chiness house, excepting those ages attended by qualified doctors, su inspector is sent to view the body before a burial certificate is issued. If in the opinion of the Inspector the body looks suspicious, it is taken away to the mortuary to be examined. This is one of the objectionall, features of the procedure, which the Chinese regard as posthumɔns puuishment.
lf on ex-
During the plague season stricter vigilance is exercised. Where qualified medical assistance is not employed, against which the prejudice has not yet been entirely overcom“, almost every dead body is carted away, and even in some cases the patient in a moriband state, not actually suffering from plague but with suspicious symptoms, is not allowed to die in
own houss Under pesce in his
such circumstances hardship and suffering are unavoidably inflicted on the patient and his family, and fright and anxiety caused to During the last three years, at the initiation his fellow-lodgers and neighbours. of our late Governor, Sir Henry Blake, kaifong amination by the Government Bacteriologist a committees have been formed and every en-patient or corpse is found to be plague-stricken, deavour made to relieve the alarmed Chinese a constab'e is detailed to mount guard at his by showing them sympathy and going amongst house to prevent the removal of any article and the poor to explain to them the requirements the holding of communication with outside by of the law and how they should comply with the inmates until the cleansing gang under a them, and since last year the Hon. Registrar coloured foreman and an inspector arrive a fow General and the Chinese members of the hours thereafter or sometimes on the following Sanitary Board, with the co-operative assistance day. Then the contacts are compelled to strip of those interested in philanthrophic work, have off their own clothes and put on those supplied obtained the consent of the Government to by the Sanitary Board. Not only the clothes embark in a scheme to raise funds annually which the contacts are at the time wearing but amongst the Chinese merchants and house. also those looked up in boxes must be shuffed holders to establish district hospitals, called the int large baskets and carried away for dis- Tung Wa branch hospitals, under the charge infection. The scene created by the demolition of licentiates of the Hongkong Medical College of partitions and ceilings, coupled with the
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to
The procedure is to prevent the spread of infection, but I should say it rather helps it spread, inasmuch as it has struck awe into the hearts of the Chinese to such an extant as com- pelling them to devia, means at greit risk and against the practice of their own race to evade the law by concealing their sick and abandoning their dead.
As I have on various occasions poi, ted out, very few Chinese can afford t› rent a whole house or even a whole for. Usually two or more than three families, and in the case of single men, ten or fifteen, share a floor together. The occurrence of a plague case would, consequently, affect all' alike. It is, I think, only human nature for the rest to do their utmost to avoid the miseries inevitably resulting fro u a voluntary report to the authorities.
It should be borne in mind that in almost every oise the sick ab.ndoned or the corpse dumped belongs to the labouring class. When one of this class contracts the disesse, too por to pay for his necessaries and without friends safficiently well off to look after him, bis employers or fellow-lodgers, fully knowing what would ensue, naturally take steps to protect their own welfare aud interest. Should he be a married man baving a family with him, the other families living on the same floor will feel too much alarmed not to persuade, or that ... failing, to threaten, into doing anything save reporting his case, and should both attempts prove in vain, to desert the house, leaving his wife and children alone. If he cannot pull through, his own kith and kin in turn desert him.
At other times these people have better chances of getting their deal passed by the Sanitary officers and can without molestation apply to the Tung Wa Hospital for assistance or go out to beg for subscriptions to pay for the burial, but when plague is rampant, as that institution must report every suspicious case, they shuu it too for fear of the detection of their address and hang on till the last moment, . when they have no alternative but to commit the heinous offence. As regards the well-to-do, they secretly remove their sick out of the Colony before death takes place. I say secretly, because they have to undergo the same treat- ment and they equally want to avoid it.
In conclusion, I bg to suggest that a sub- committee consisting of the President, the Senior Chinese Member and another European unofficial member be appointed to thoroughly investigate-
(A) The methods hitherto adopted and the manner in which they have been carried out, and (B) The causes of dumping, and consider what modifications are necessary to enlist the co- operation of the Chinese community and reduce the existing hardship to a minimum,
A little tact mingled with sympathy and consideration as shown them during the Third Street experiment, will, I am sure, induce the Chinese to come forward to give assistance. As the majority of the population of the Colony is Chinese, it is undesirable to make it their second nature, as it has apparently done, to continue the evil practice. Why should the Sanitary Board have recourse to drastic measures, if its object can be equally suOOG8S- fully attained by milder means ?.
I have the honour to-be,
Bir,: Your ob dient sɔrvant,
LAU CHU-PAK
The Nanfangpao s'ates that in consequence of reports current among the Chinese that Rusia is preparing for war with China, Mr. Pok tiloff has inform d the Walwapa that al- though the Manchurian negotiations may not
and English-sp-aking clerka, in different parts washing of furniture and bed-boards in -any- I be nettled for some time, yet Bunda will contami
of the city, with a view to inculcating the more goorant and poorer Chinese with a better
thing but pleasant. To see the clownsing seo ant make that a pretext to force a rupture coolies-whom the people call “Hat Kings", "with China.
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