ENG-1975 — Page 114

HEALTH

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Queen Elizabeth Hospital serves as a main emergency and specialist hospital for Kowloon and the east New Territories with all necessary ancillary 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 of hospital beds to 1,898.

The newly-opened Princess Margaret Hospital, with its 1,340 beds, serves as a regional hospital for the west New Territories. It also houses an infectious diseases unit, to replace the beds at Lai Chi Kok Hospital, and a geriatric unit.

Kowloon Hospital is used mainly as a subsidiary to Queen Elizabeth Hospital for patients requiring convalescent care and rehabilitation. In addition, Kowloon Hospital contains an acute psychiatric unit of 67 beds, a spinal injuries unit of 50 beds, a thoracic unit of 101 beds, and a tuberculosis unit. Castle Peak Hospital is the only psychiatric hospital for the mentally ill. The Siu Lam Hospital has 200 beds for the severe grade of mentally sub-normal patient. The Tsan Yuk Hospital has 300 ma- ternity beds and is a teaching hospital for medical students and midwives. Many government clinics and health centres provide maternity beds for normal maternity cases. The Tang Shiu Kin Hospital provides an additional casualty service on Hong Kong Island. Fanling Hospital in the north New Territories has 54 beds. There is a small general hospital on Cheung Chau Island and another on Lantau Island. Small hospitals are also established in prisons.

The Tung Wah Group of Hospitals is a long established charitable organisation. It operates three general hospitals-the Tung Wah, Tung Wah Eastern, and the Kwong Wah hospitals with a total of 2,274 beds—and a convalescent hospital of 503 beds at Sandy Bay. The group also provides subsidiary beds for long-term patients and tuberculosis patients at the Wong Tai Sin Infirmary. The Pok Oi Hospital at Yuen Long in the New Territories is another long established charitable organisation, as are the Yan Chai Hospital at Tsuen Wan with 100 beds, and the United Christian Hospital at Kwun Tong with 555 beds. A number of other hospitals are maintained by missionary and charitable organisations-such as the Alice Ho Miu Ling Nether- sole Hospital, Caritas Medical Centre, Our Lady of Maryknoll Hospital, the Duchess of Kent Children's Orthopaedic Hospital, and the Hong Kong Buddhist Hospital. All of these receive substantial government subventions.

Clinics

To meet the increasing demand for treatment by modern Western medicine, the outpatient services provided mainly by the government and subsidised organisations and private agencies are developing steadily. The government now operates 51 clinics for general outpatients, with specialist facilities available in the polyclinics of the urban areas. Similar specialist facilities are provided in the New Territories by visiting teams from the major hospitals. Mobile dispensaries and floating clinics take the medical services to the more remote areas of the New Territories, while other in- accessible villages are visited by the flying doctor service.

In accordance with the Medical Clinics Ordinance, all clinics are required to renew their registration annually. On December 31, 1975 there were 76 registered