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Lam treatment centre operated by the Prisons Department is con- tained in the chapter on Public Order].

The Medical and Health Department and other government departments maintain close liaison with the Action Committee Against Narcotics and other voluntary agencies connected with the work on drug addiction. A notable event of the year was the holding of the International Symposium on Drug Dependence, the first ever to be held in Hong Kong. More than 100 delegates from 17 countries and over 200 representatives of local organisations met for five days to discuss matters associated with drug dependence and the various possible approaches to this worldwide problem.

HOSPITALS

There are now 16,689 hospital beds available in Hong Kong representing 4.13 beds per thousand of the population (see Appendix 34). This figure includes maternity and nursing homes, but not institutions maintained by the Armed Forces. Of these beds, 14,513 are in government hospitals and institutions and in government- assisted hospitals, while the remaining 2,176 are provided by private agencies. Apart from beds assigned to the mentally ill and for the treatment of tuberculosis and infectious diseases there are 13,448 beds available for all general purposes, including maternity, giving a ratio of 3.32 beds per thousand of the population. The figures quoted are based on the normal bed capacities of the hospitals, but in some cases the actual occupancy is much higher as temporary beds are used whenever the need arises.

Queen Elizabeth Hospital- serves as the main emergency and specialist hospital for Kowloon and the New Territories, with all necessary ancillary and specialist services. It has a capacity of 1,596 beds, but the pressure for admission necessitates the extensive use of temporary beds bringing the total number to 1,901. The Kowloon Hospital is used mainly as a subsidiary to the Queen Elizabeth Hos- pital for patients requiring convalescent care and rehabilitation. Apart from the psychiatric unit, the newly completed west wing contains a paraplegic unit of 50 beds and 469 convalescent beds.

On Hong Kong Island the Government maintains another large general hospital, the Queen Mary Hospital of 1,128 beds, which performs the same functions for the Island as the Queen Elizabeth Hospital does for Kowloon, and is also the teaching hospital for the Medical Faculty of the University of Hong Kong. Construction work on a new pathology building, virus laboratory and mortuary