ENG-1959 — Page 178

PUBLIC HEALTH

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Memorial Convalescent Home and the Grantham Hospital. The Grantham Hospital of 540 beds is a non-profit-making institution which provides accommodation for fee-paying patients. Owing to the need for more free tuberculosis beds, Government has now assumed responsibility for 444 of these beds, to which patients are admitted for free treatment through the Government Tuber- culosis Service. The Anti-Tuberculosis Association, the Ruttonjee Sanatorium and the Freni Memorial Convalescent Home receive substantial annual subventions.

Clinics. Out-patient services of varying scope are available at 42 Government clinics and dispensaries situated throughout the urban and rural areas. The buildings range from multi-storey buildings accommodating general and specialist services to small dispensaries, two mobile dispensaries and two 'floating clinics'. The latter are launches donated by the Hong Kong Jockey Club. They visit isolated centres of population on the indented eastern and western coasts of the New Territories and on the adjacent islands.

In the New Territories there are maternity beds for normal midwifery in certain of the clinics and dispensaries. Visiting teams from Hong Kong and Kowloon hold specialist sessions at the larger clinics for tuberculosis, eye diseases, ear, nose and throat, leprosy, venereal disease, dermatology, dentistry and maternal and child health. In the urban areas out-patient specialist sessions are also held at the clinics.

Though $1 is normally charged for each out-patient attendance at the majority of centres, certain services are provided without charge, notably for tuberculosis, leprosy, venereal disease, eye disease in children and at maternal and child health centres.

Evacuation of cases of serious illness from isolated centres is carried out by helicopter, by fast police launches and by the float- ing clinics. A road ambulance service is maintained throughout the Colony by the Fire Brigade.

Attendances at the Government clinics and dispensaries over the past five years have been as follows:

1955

1956

1957

1958

1959

...

2,869,045

3,165,106

3,397,704

4,112,410

5,107,644