ENG-1961 — Page 183

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HEALTH

Health Education. Health education covers a wide field and is an integral part of the activities of all branches of the Medical and Health Department, the Maternal and Child Health service being particularly active in this sphere.

The Inter-departmental Committee on Health Education, formed in 1959, continued to concentrate its efforts on assisting the anti- diphtheria campaign mentioned previously. The Health Educa- tion Select Committee of the Urban Council organized publicity campaigns in many aspects of environmental hygiene throughout the urban areas, while the Industrial Health Section of the Labour Department and the Social Welfare Department were also very active in their respective spheres.___

Kaifong Associations co-operated with Government in immuni- zation campaigns and in education on environmental hygiene. Many of these Associations run their own health committees, and take a lively and practical interest in the health problems of their respective districts.

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HOSPITALS AND CLINICS

9,944 hospital beds (as listed in Appendix VII) are available for all purposes; this figure includes maternity and nursing homes but not institutions maintained by the Armed Forces. Of these beds, 36.2% are in Government hospitals and institutions and 44.9% in Government-assisted hospitals, while the remaining 18.9% are provided by private agencies. Apart from beds assigned to the care of the mentally ill and to the treatment of tuberculosis and infectious diseases, there are 6,044 beds available for all general purposes, including maternity. This gives a ratio of 1.9 beds per thousand of the population. The figures quoted are based on the normal bed-capacities of the various hospitals, but in many cases the actual occupancy is much higher as camp beds are used extensively whenever the need arises.

Government maintains two large general hospitals for casualties and emergency cases and for cases in need of specialized investiga- tion and treatment. These are the Queen Mary Hospital of 601 beds on Hong Kong Island and the Kowloon Hospital of 526 beds situated in the centre of Kowloon; the former is also the Teaching Hospital for the Medical Faculty of the University of