ENG-1974 — Page 124

HEALTH

79

General Medical Council of Great Britain since 1911. In recent years the medical school has expanded to an annual intake of 150 students to meet Hong Kong's in- creasing need for doctors. Both the government and the University of Hong Kong maintain a programme of post-graduate training. Suitable candidates, when selected, are given training under the supervision of the consultants for four years. A local officer who has completed four years continuous resident service and has been confirmed to the pensionable establishment, may be granted paid study leave to attend a course outside Hong Kong. Through these arrangements many doctors in the past have been able to attend courses of study overseas. Opportunities are also available for doctors to sit the higher professional examination in Hong Kong by arrangements with overseas bodies like the Royal Colleges of the United Kingdom and Australia.

The school of physiotherapy run by the Medical and Health Department provides qualified physiotherapists for the service as well as for government-assisted hospitals. For other para-medical grades of staff, in-service training and opportunities are pro- vided to enable them to qualify as radiographers, laboratory technicians, dispensers, prosthetists, mould laboratory and dental technicians. A number of suitable and promising staff of these para-medical services are sent abroad for further training and experience.

Hong Kong has no local facilities for training in dentistry but a dental scholarship scheme enables a number of students from Hong Kong to go overseas each year to study dentistry. A total of 93 scholarships have been awarded since the scheme started in 1954.

There are three government hospital schools of nursing where instruction is given in English. Two of these provide a three-year course in general nursing and are attached to the Queen Elizabeth Hospital and Queen Mary Hospital. The other school provides a three-year course in psychiatric nursing.

Other approved nurse training schools are attached to the government-assisted or private hospitals, the Tung Wah Group of Hospitals, United Christian Hospital, Hong Kong Sanatorium and Hospital where instruction is given in Chinese and the Caritas Medical Centre where instruction is given in English. Final registration ex- aminations are conducted by the Hong Kong Nursing Board.

Queen Elizabeth Hospital and all these government-assisted and private hospitals run one-year courses in obstetric nursing for registered nurses. Students are qualified to sit for the Registration Examinations conducted by the Hong Kong Midwives Board. Courses are recognised as equivalent to Part I Midwifery Training of the Central Midwives Board in England. Due to the limited scope of domiciliary mid- wifery, adequate practical training in this respect cannot be given and full reciprocity of registration with the Central Midwives Board in England is not possible.

The Tsan Yuk Hospital, the only government maternity hospital, offers a two-year obstetric course in Chinese for students who are not registered nurses. On completion of this two-year training they are eligible to sit for the Registration Examination conducted by the Hong Kong Midwives Board.