ENG-1953 — Page 124

HONG KONG ANNUAL REPORT, 1953

campaign was re-orientated, therefore, to deal with school children, the pre-school child and the newly born. Early in the year, vaccination of the school population was completed and thereafter, although new school entrants continued to be dealt with, efforts were mainly directed to dealing with the pre-school child and babies born in hospitals. There still remained the problem, largely administrative, of dealing with domiciliary births and babies born in private nursing homes. This problem has not yet been solved.

The total number of tuberculosis beds in the Colony is 928, a figure far below requirements. Full use of these was made but it was necessary to resort extensively to outpatient treatment, by means of chemotherapy. Results of this were not unsatisfactory and there is great scope for development of this line of attack, particularly as the Chinese have a high racial resistance to the disease and generally respond well to treatment. Nevertheless, a substantial number of additional tuberculosis beds are urgently required as is also material expansion of the tuberculosis service, objectives which are fully recognized and which will be pursued as financial resources will permit.

In spite of the magnitude of the problem and the limited resources available much is achieved, particularly in the case of defined and controllable groups. An example of this is the progress achieved in dealing with the infection among employees of Government. Since 1949, annual mass miniature radio- graphic surveys of all persons employed by Government have been carried out. Those found infected have been given generous leave on full pay and have been put under treatment with the real prospect, especially in early cases, of eventual return to full remunerative employment.

Since the initiation of these surveys, there has been a steady fall in the number of active cases of tuberculosis found each year and a substantial increase in the percentage of early

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