ENG-1987 — Page 169

HEALTH

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advise on matters concerning the health of children and organise health education activities and immunisation campaigns.

Mental Health

Medical services for the mentally ill include treatment in hospitals, out-patient clinics and day hospitals. The Mental Health Service of the Medical and Health Department, in conjunction with other local academic and voluntary bodies, provides a comprehensive psychiatric service for the territory as a whole.

Currently 3 445 beds are provided in psychiatric hospitals, and 624 beds in psychiatric units of general hospitals. In line with the universal trend for the latter type of provision, 2 238 additional beds are being planned for the mentally ill in the coming decade.

Psychiatric patients are treated, as far as possible, in the community. Apart from attending out-patient clinics or day hospitals, patients may also be visited at home by specially trained community psychiatric nurses. Started in 1982, the Community Psychi- atric Nursing Service aims to provide continuity in after-care treatment programmes for discharged mental patients, to assist them in social readjustment and to educate the patients and their families in mental health. There are now six such centres, accepting referrals from hospitals and psychiatric out-patient clinics, and four more centres have been planned.

Other complementary rehabilitative services include day centres, half-way houses, long-stay care homes, vocational training, selective placement and social clubs offered by various government departments and voluntary agencies.

Severely mentally handicapped persons requiring intensive nursing and medical treat- ment are cared for at the 200-bed Siu Lam Hospital and 300 beds in Caritas Medical Centre. A further 704 beds in this category have been planned for the next decade to meet the continuing need.

Dental Services

The School Dental Care Service aims at promoting dental health among school children. Services provided include regular dental examination, treatment and oral health education. During the year, the programme was extended to all primary school children, and 352 500 took part in the service, representing 65.5 per cent of the school population. Oral health education on dental care for the community was also organised from time to time.

The Government Dental Service provides dental care for all monthly-paid government servants, pensioners and their dependants, as well as simple dental treatment for inmates of penal institutions and specialist treatment for patients in government hospitals. Emergency treatment is also provided for the public at a number of district dental clinics.

Port Health

The Port Health Service is the control authority to prevent the introduction of quarantin- able diseases into the territory via air, land, rail or sea, and enforces the measures stipulated under the Quarantine and Prevention of Disease Ordinance and the International Health Regulations.

The service provides facilities for vaccination and the issue of international vaccination certificates. It also inspects and supervises the eradication of rats from ships on inter- national voyages. It provides medical assistance to ships in the harbour, transmits medical advice to ships at sea, operates a 24-hour health clearance service for all incoming vessels, and grants radio pratique to ships.