ENG-1964 — Page 116

8

Health

GENERALLY speaking the health of the population continued to be good against a background of overcrowding and despite very severe water restrictions carrying over into the first half of the year. There was no epidemic of severe proportions. A recurrence of cholera caused four deaths but involved only 34 cases altogether.

Notifications of poliomyelitis and associated deaths remained low as a result of the continued oral anti-poliomyelitis vaccine campaign. For the fifth year in succession there was a further marked drop in notifications of diphtheria.

The toll of accidents at work, on the streets and in the home which required treatment in casualty departments and admission to hospital continued to rise. The mortality pattern shows fewer deaths from the communicable diseases and more from diseases of later life, particularly neoplasms and cerebro-vascular accidents.

Tuberculosis remained the most important health problem in the Colony, accounting for more sickness and deaths than all other communicable diseases put together.

With the opening of the Queen Elizabeth Hospital and the com- pletion of the last major phase of the redevelopment of the Kwong Wah Hospital, there was a marked easing of pressure on hospital facilities in Kowloon. However pressure on Hong Kong Island hospitals remained severe, particularly the Queen Mary Hospital where wide-spread use of camp-beds in wards and on verandahs is still necessary.

One of the main events of the year was the opening of the Queen Elizabeth Hospital Jockey Club Institute of Radiology in June, which offers most modern methods of radiodiagnosis and of radio- therapy. Two more generous donations by the Royal Hong Kong Jockey Club made possible the opening of a health centre at Kwun Tong, providing general out-patient and maternity and child health facilities for this rapidly expanding industrial area of Kowloon,