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HEALTH
In addition, the Kowloon Hospital contains an acute Psychiatric Unit of 67 beds, a paraplegic unit of 50 beds and a thoracic surgical unit of 94 beds.
On Hong Kong Island, the government maintains another large general hospital, the Queen Mary Hospital of 1,144 beds, which performs the same functions for the Island as the Queen Elizabeth Hospital does for Kowloon. It is also the teaching hos- pital for the Medical Faculty of the University of Hong Kong. Construction work for a new pathology building and virus laboratory and a new clinical building was com- pleted during the year, while work on the new mortuary continued. These projects when completed will provide additional teaching facilities for an increased intake of medical students and also improved pathological services for the hospital.
Other government hospitals are maintained chiefly for specialised purposes. The Siu Lam Hospital was opened in June 1972. It has 200 beds for the severe grade of the mentally subnormal. Apart from this and the Castle Peak Hospital there are two infectious disease hospitals and a maternity hospital of 300 beds, where the teaching of medical students and training of midwives is carried out. The Tang Shiu Kin Hospital provides casualty service as well as facilities for maternal and child health, social hygiene and maternity services. Two smaller general hospitals are maintained, one on Cheung Chau Island and the other on Lantau. Small hospitals are also established in prisons; and maternity beds for normal midwifery are provided in many government clinics and dispensaries.
The Tung Wah Group of Hospitals, a long-established charitable organisation, operates three general hospitals, the Tung Wah, the Tung Wah Eastern and the Kwong Wah with a total of 2,263 beds, and a convalescent hospital of 503 beds at Sandy Bay. It also provides subsidiary beds for long-term patients at Wong Tai Sin Infirmary. These hospitals, whose recurrent expenditure is met mainly by a large sub- vention from the government, provide a valuable contribution to Hong Kong's medical facilities and are gradually being modernised and expanded. During the year, alteration work was started in the Tung Wah Eastern Hospital, which will be converted into an acute hospital to admit cases directly referred from Tang Shiu Kin Hospital.
The Pok Oi Hospital, near Yuen Long in the New Territories, is another long- established charitable organisation operating with the assistance of a government sub- vention. It has been modernised and expanded.
A number of the general hospitals are maintained by missionary and other chari- table organisations such as the Alice Ho Miu Ling Nethersole Hospital, Caritas Medical Centre at So Uk, Our Lady of Maryknoll Hospital, the Duchess of Kent Children's Orthopaedic Hospital and Convalescent Home, the Hong Kong Buddhist Hospital and the Fanling Hospital. Several receive substantial government subventions.
Specialist Services
In government hospitals there are clinical specialists in various medical fields. There are also specialised clinics for tuberculosis and social hygiene, together with specialist services offered by the Government Chemist's Laboratory and the Forensic Pathology Laboratory. The Medical and Health Department Institute of Pathology
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