ENG-1974 — Page 125

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HEALTH

The Kowloon Hospital and other government-assisted and private hospital schools of nursing also offer two-year courses in general nurse training or psychiatric nurse training. As from July 1972, pupil nurses who have completed these courses and passed the examination conducted by the Hong Kong Nursing Board become enrolled nurses.

A nine-month course for health visitors is held at the Tang Shiu Kin Hospital. This prepares entrants to sit for the examination of the Royal Society for the Promo- tion of Health. Health auxiliaries who supplement the health visitors service, continue to have a two-year training course in health education and basic public health nursing at the same hospital.

The government conducts a continuous post-graduate overseas training pro- gramme for graduate nurses to specialise in such areas as nursing administration, nursing education, dietetics, orthopaedic nursing, intensive care therapy, operating theatre services and ophthalmic nursing.

The Hong Kong Examination Board of the Royal Society for the Promotion of Health conducts examinations for the Diploma of Local Public Health Inspectors, the Diploma in Public Health Inspector for General Overseas Appointments, the Diploma in Tropical Hygiene for Public Health Inspectors, the Certificate for Health Visitors and School Nurses, and the Diploma of Air Pollution Control.

Research

During 1974 a major breakthrough was made in cancer research at the Medical and Health Department Institute of Radiology. Continuing research on the epidemi- ology of nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) reached an important milestone when, working, in collaboration with doctors W. and G. Henle, of Philadelphia, the presence of Epstein-Barr virus-associated nuclear antigen (EBNA) was demonstrated in nasopharyngeal carcinoma cells and not the lymphoid cells in the tumour stroma. It is believed to be the first time that EBNA has been demonstrated in NPC cells. Previously, working in collaboration with the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) in Lyon, France, the institute demonstrated a consistent serological association between the virus and NPC and the presence of Epstein-Barr virions in lymphoblastoid cells in culture derived from NPC biopsies. Further investigation to determine whether a causal relationship exists between the virus and the cancer is in progress.

Work is also carried out in two clinical units in Queen Elizabeth Hospital on the application of epidural anaesthesia for painless labour, the control of premature labour with Salbutamol, the treatment of chorio-carcinoma and Hydatidiform mole, the assay of human chorionic gonadotrophin content in placenta and the study of myo- metrial activities in response to a herb and other drugs.

Investigations conducted in the Medical and Health Department Institute of Pathology covered mainly virology and histopathology. The serological survey of poliomyelitis antibodies has been completed among children under five years. The susceptible population declined from 21.07 per cent in 1960 to 4.58 per cent in 1973.