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THE ARMED SERVICES AND AUXILIARY SERVICES

achieved through regular activities which include training courses, sports events, exercises in leadership and initiative, and operational duties such as patrolling country parks, life- saving, mountain rescues and crowd control.

Like their adult colleagues, Civil Aid Services cadets are recruited from the areas in which they reside or study. Their training resembles that of the adult service, and includes camping, trekking, forest conservation and mountain craft. More advanced courses are held for the older cadets in mechanical engineering, canoe fibre-glassing, and welding.

At the age of 18, cadets must leave the corps. However, they may then join the adult branch of the Civil Aid Services, or another auxiliary or regular disciplined service.

Adults and cadets share a 20-hectare training camp, situated on a plateau 250 metres above Castle Peak Road at Tsing Lung Tau. There is also a centre for water-based activities at Tai Tan on the Sai Kung peninsula.

Auxiliary Medical Service

The Auxiliary Medical Service, founded in 1950, is a volunteer medical service with a membership of nearly 6,000. Although some of the volunteers are doctors and nurses the majority are laymen. They are under the control of the Director of Medical and Health Services.

In the event of an emergency, the Auxiliary Medical Service may be mobilised to augment the Medical and Health Department and the ambulance service. Members assist by treating victims on the spot, conveying casualities to hospitals, and manning aid stations and hospital units which may be established to cope with the emergency situation.

Apart from its emergency role, the Auxiliary Medical Service provides assistance at medical centres, methadone treatment clinics, inoculation posts, and hospitals. Members regularly reinforce the Fire Services Department's Ambulance Command and perform life guard and life-saving duties at Hong Kong's popular beaches and swimming pools during weekends and public holidays.

Since 1972, the permanent staff of the Auxiliary Medical Service has given first-aid training to many hundreds of government officers, especially those in the disciplined services. Each year, approximately 850 of these officers receive their first-aid certificates and a further 2,500 attend lectures on first-aid.

The Auxiliary Medical Service has played a prominent part in the care and treatment of the Vietnamese refugees, manning medical centres at the refugee camps, immunising new arrivals and providing a variety of essential health and medical services and supplies.

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