ENG-1958 — Page 178

PUBLIC HEALTH

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crowned, and 1,203 dentures, bridges, and special prosthetic appliances were fitted in the General and School Dental Clinics. Orthodontic appliances were also fitted.

Two Dental Surgery Assistants were awarded World Health Organization fellowships and went to New Zealand in September for training as Dental Nurses.

Registration of dentists is compulsory in Hong Kong and since 1949 only academically qualified dentists have been accepted. At the end of the year there were 375 dentists on the Register, of whom only 84 were academically qualified.

A Government Dental Scholarship scheme was instituted in 1954 to ensure a steady source of supply of well-qualified dental surgeons for the Colony. In 1958 three students returned after four years study in the Dental School of the University of Malaya. Five students were sent to the University of Adelaide and four more to the University of Melbourne on courses leading to the degree of Bachelor of Dental Surgery. At the end of the year there were, in all, twenty five dental students studying abroad under the scheme, eleven in Singapore and fourteen in Australia.

Several dental clinics are operated by welfare organizations for the poor, and many dentists give their services free of charge. The Hong Kong Dental Society organizes evening clinics_at the Hong Kong Family Welfare Society's Centres in Hong Kong and Kowloon and at the Hong Kong Anti-Tuberculosis Association's Ruttonjee Sanatorium. Dentists are also included in the St. John Ambulance Brigade Penetration Parties which visit remote areas in the New Territories.

URBAN SERVICES

The Urban Council, the constitution of which is described in Chapter 25, has statutory responsibility in a number of matters normally falling within the scope of municipal administration, including bathing beaches, swimming pools, cemeteries, crematoria, mortuaries, the collection and disposal of refuse and nightsoil, the inspection and health control of domestic premises and food establishments, food hygiene and sampling, markets, hawkers, parks, playgrounds and urban amenities, pest control, public latrines and bathhouses, slaughterhouses, and multi-storey car parks.