ENG-1956 — Page 170

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HONG KONG ANNUAL REPORT

spleen smears examined for P. pestis were submitted weekly to the World Health Organization Epidemiological Intel- ligence Station, Singapore, by this office.

A constant check is maintained on the purity of drinking water supplied to ships by bacteriological examination of weekly samples from water boats and dock hydrants.

Maternal and Child Health Services. Maternal and Child Health Services provide ante-natal, post-natal, and infant care in five full time centres and fourteen part-time centres throughout the Colony. A new full-time centre was opened at Homantin in September 1956. Several special clinic sessions to care for children of pre-school age (2-5 years) were started during the year. The remaining members of the World Health Organization Maternal and Child Health team which had been assisting in the development of Maternal and Child Health Services since 1954 left Hong Kong in March 1956.

Midwifery services, both for home deliveries and for de- liveries in maternity homes, are provided by 35 Government midwives who undertook 11,013 deliveries during 1956. Private midwives delivered 34,771 babies, mostly in the 133 private maternity homes registered in the Colony.

School Health Service. There is a School Health Service, in which the number of participants has still to be limited owing to the great increase in the school population and to the lack of accommodation, staff and facilities to attend them. Apart from regular periodic medical inspections of pupils and treatment of their minor ailments at school clinics, spectacles are prescribed and made for those requiring them, and limited dental treatment is offered. A reorganization of the School Health Service is at present under consideration.

Health Education. This work is an important part of the work in all Health Centres, particularly in the Maternal and Child Health Clinics and School Clinics. The Health Visitor