ENG-1994 — Page 216

HEALTH

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this effect; and required all restaurants to display a sign stating whether or not they have a non-smoking area.

Training of Medical and Health Personnel

Basic training of doctors is provided by the University of Hong Kong and the Chinese University of Hong Kong, where the medical student intake in 1994 was 170 and 160, respectively. Under the Licentiate Scheme of the Hong Kong Medical Council, 22 externally-trained doctors passed the local licentiate examination during the year. After completing an externship programme in public hospitals, these doctors will become registered medical practitioners.

The Hong Kong Academy of Medicine is an independent statutory body with the authority to-approve, assess and accredit all post-internship medical training. Since its inauguration in December 1993, the 11 founding colleges have been actively conducting training and examinations to award specialist qualifications to qualifying candidates.

Two types of basic education programmes are currently available in Hong Kong to prepare nurses for working in different clinical settings. General training is provided through a three-year, in-service training programme, leading to qualification as a registered nurse. This is conducted through 10 general nursing schools accredited by the Hong Kong Nursing Board (nine in public hospitals and one in a private hospital), with a total annual intake of 1 368 students. A full-time undergraduate degree course of four years is also run by - the Hong Kong Polytechnic, with an annual intake of 40 students. Psychiatric training is provided through a three-year, in-service training programme, also leading to qualification as a registered nurse. This is conducted by two psychiatric nursing schools, with an annual intake of 160. These education and training programmes are complemented by lectures, seminars and workshops on various topics conducted by the individual employers, as well as degree or diploma courses leading to higher degree qualifications run by the tertiary institutions.

The School of Public Health Nursing in the Department of Health provides full-time and part-time public health nursing training programmes which lead to a diploma in public health nursing studies for registered nurses. The annual student intake of the school is 60 for the nine-month, full-time course.

Training in dentistry is available at the University of Hong Kong. A total of 40 dentists graduated in January 1994,

Traditional Chinese Medicine

The government set up the Working Party on Chinese Medicine in August 1989 to review the use and practice of traditional Chinese medicine in Hong Kong, and to advise on measures to promote its proper use and good practice. At present, there are no specific legal controls over herbal medicines or Chinese proprietary medicines for the purposes of import and export, registration and sale, or dispensing and purchase. Practitioners of traditional Chinese medicine are not required to be registered.

The interim report of the working party was released to the public for consultation in January 1992, giving an account of its findings and deliberations.

In early 1994, the chairman and representatives of the working party visited Beijing, Guangzhou and Macau to look into the use and practice of traditional Chinese medicine in