Member oftheEducationandResearchCommittee,HongKongMuseumMedicalSciencesSociety services to the Chinese. services Hong to Kong Western provide lacked—and medical that anddeath birth registration—data to perform licentiates ofthe ofMedicine College by staffed dispensaries establishing proposed hygiene andsanitation. ofthe publicinbasic andeducation and inoculation, vaccination including free inHong Kong, service publichealth role inimparting acrucial played Western butalso not onlypopularised medicine They were more than conventional dispensaries. government out-patient oftoday. clinics CPDs The twentieth and were the century forerunners of the the first half during of the Chinese impoverished to the services out-patientmedical andmidwifery much-needed CPDs provided The Western Kong. in Hong Affairs) for Chinese Secretary renamed (later General ofthe Registrar the supervision elite bythe under Chinese established (CPDs) PublicDispensaries oneofthe 10Chinese was (Wan District Chai) Dispensary Eastern The https://doi.org/10.12809/hkmj-hkmms201912 Moira Chan-Yeung, Hospital Plague and (Wan Dispensary District Chai) Eastern CitytheKowloon sameyear. by were managed They byathird followed Western in District, andEastern density: population high 1 April with 1905 in areas Two on bodies. were opened death ofdumped CPDs of inattendance the cause of Medicine to identify alicentiate with CPDs of the Hong Kong College of Tung Wah to Committee establish Hospital Chairman the theapproached about problem. They to dosomething decided Lau, and MrChu-pak MrWa-chun Board, ofthe Sanitary members Fung that such ahuge twoChinese scandal and itbecame indecency agross bythe Europeans as regarded died. whenthey the streets and officials public health in bodies their “dumped” from disease with hidthose members household plague, such as diseases the infectious patients with of and isolation and furniture of thecleansing house by the draconian law, publichealth which required Tostreets. imposed avoid measures the invasive were “dumped” bodies ofdead number inthe for adifferent reason. elite bythe were Chinese the founded endthe CPDs notimplemented. In was resources andthe project existing in1894 overwhelmed outbreak ofplague As early as 1892,the Surgeon Colonial as early As This dumping of bodies in the streets was was in the streets bodies dumpingThis of of1894,large epidemic the plague During FRCP, FRCPC 1 The lack of funding and thelack Theof Hong KongMedical Journal©2019HongKongAcademy ofMedicine.CCBY-NC-ND 4.0 special performances put on by local theatres. putonbylocal performances special community, by raised elite, the andfunds Chinese the from local subscriptions mainlyfrom came expenses elite. bythe Operating Chinese locally raised for construction funds with the government, Committee. ofthechairman CPD the medical licentiatethe medical ofthe CPD. could apply through delivery for domiciliary services to have their whowished Residents CPDs. some in Western ofdelivery, methods attached to to be trained whohadbeen midwives, government hired community. prominent ofthe from Chinese members people to include andenlarged atotalof19 General, bythe chaired Registrar was Committee, the CPD thefrom Tung Wah called The Hospital. committee, to operate independently the committee decided andStanley.Aberdeen, Shau Kei Wan,Hom, Central District, ShamShui Po, inYau years, more in subsequent MaTei, Hung establishmentto seven the CPDs led of first three to the CPD Committee. to the CPD than 10%ofthe less of HK$2000, totalexpenditure, the government gave small grants the years, Over gynaecology clinic was held byone ofthe government clinic was gynaecology inoculation. smallpox vaccination andcholera(5) to perform and sent outofHongto Kong be at their request; patients for andto plague arrange hospital plague patientsinthe district for plague responsible be sent (4)to to illtofor the be the hospital; seriously andto arrange to thepatients whocame dispensary andtreat (3)to diagnose ormortuary; hospital to ofdeath,athe andto cause remove corpses orthe Police Department to determine Sanitary atofthe the request bodies dead (2) to inspect andto death issue certificates; by alicenced doctor unattendedof death the of those toestablish cause for their finances. committees responsible local hadtheir inKowloon own Island; butthose onHong forKongcontrolled the the CPDs funds chairman ofTungchairman Wah Hospital. AW Wa-chun Brewin, andthe Lau, Fung, Chu-pak Mr General, a committee consisting ofthe Registrar The CPDs were usually built on land gifted by gifted land builton CPDs wereusually The Soon, other duties were added. In1906,the were other added. duties Soon, Soon after the founding of the first three CPDs, CPDs, the founding after ofthe first three Soon The main tasks of the CPDs included: (1) toCPDs included: of the tasks The main 3 6 In 1909, Dr Ho Kai was the vice In1909,DrHo Kaiwas

5 The Registrar General TheRegistrar 2 Thesuccess of the 7 In1930,a 4

503 Reminiscence: Artefacts from the HKMMS # Reminiscence: Artefacts from the HKMMS #

lady medical officers once a week in each of the CPDs included a small plague hospital on the top floor, for women with gynaecological problems. The CPD a dispensary on the ground floor.9 There were also Committee also organised “lecturers” to propagate waiting rooms, quarters for coolies, and space for an basic hygiene and public health measures in the local ambulance and dead-vans. community and to encourage compliance to sanitary In the late 1910s, there were very few plague regulations.8 patients. At the request of the Eastern District The Eastern District Dispensary wasDispensary Committee, the plague hospital began established in 1905 at 205 Queen’s Road East, located to admit women and children with other diseases on in a ground floor shop with inadequate space. In the understanding that the hospital should be staffed 1907, Dr Ko-tsun Ho became the licentiate in charge by a duly qualified medical practitioner under the of the dispensary. He encouraged the residents supervision of the Principal Civil Medical Officer. to campaign and raise funds for a more spacious In 1919, the plague hospital was converted into a dispensary and a small plague hospital. A door-to- maternity hospital with 22 beds. Dr Alice Hickling, door collection yielded the required amount for the who was responsible for training government purchase of a suitable location on midwives, was asked to supervise the maternity (IL 1835) and for construction of the dispensary. The hospital with Dr Ko-tsun Ho.10 The maternity government granted an adjacent area of 62 feet by 40 hospital became highly popular and the number of feet (IL 790), thus expanding the site. The complex, deliveries exceeded 1000 per year in 1931. At that which was opened officially on 7 October 1911 (Fig), point, altruistic residents in began to

FIG. Inauguration of the Eastern District (Wan Chai) Chinese Public Dispensary and Plague Hospital at Stone Nullah Lane on 7 October 1911. On the front row were Dr Ho Kai (with a hat), Registrar General Mr AW Brewin (on his left), and Ho Ko-tsun Ho (second person to his right), members of the Chinese Public Dispensary Committee and members of the Wan Chai Kaifong Committee. The photograph was a copy of the original donated to the Hong Kong Museum of Medical Sciences by Dr Frank Cheng. One of the relatives of Dr Cheng, a member of Kaifong Committee, contributed and raised funds for the building of this dispensary and plague Hospital

504 Hong Kong Med J ⎥ Volume 25 Number 6 ⎥ December 2019 ⎥ www.hkmj.org # Reminiscence: Artefacts from the HKMMS # collect money to expand the hospital. At the end of of the dispensary where he had lived for over 30 years 1931, a new maternity ward appeared on the second without paying rent, at the petition of the residents floor. in the neighbourhood who had great respect and During the Second World War, Dr Ho used admiration for the doctor.11 his own resources to keep the Eastern District In 1969, all clinical activities at the dispensary Dispensary opened for the residents of Wan Chai. were moved to the new Tang Chi Ngong Specialist After the War, the government took over the Clinic next to the Tang Shiu Kin Hospital. The management of the Eastern District Dispensary Eastern District Dispensary and Maternal Hospital and Maternity Hospital. In 1949, Dr Ko-tsun Ho’s came to an end. The premises on IL1835 and IL790 meritorious work at the dispensary was recognised were then leased to three different organisations: the by an award of OBE (Order of British Empire). He north wing to St James’ Settlement, the central part had just retired from the dispensary without any to Wan Chai Kaifong Welfare Association, and the pension after several decades of devoted service to south wing to Lok Heep Club, Caritas.12 Today, the the community. The Secretary for Chinese Affairs original site is occupied by the St James’ Settlement allowed Dr Ho to continue living on the second floor Headquarters building.

References 1. Ayers to Colonial Secretary 18 August 1892, enclosed in Robinson to Lord Knutsford, 23 September 1892, CO 129/256, #280, 207-10. 2. “Sanitary Board Fortnightly Meeting”. South China Morning Post 15 March 1907.11; Report of the Registrar General for the Year 1905; Hong Kong Sessional Papers, 13/1906, 230-1. 3. Registrar General Report 1907; Hong Kong Sessional Papers (HKSP) 1908, 191-2. 4. Secretary for Chinese Affairs (SCA) Report 1936/1937, Hong Hong Administrative Report (HKAR) 1937, C47. 5. Registrar General Report 1908. HKAR 1908, C7; “Grant for Chinese dispensaries”, South China Morning Post, 22 December 1916. 6. Registrar General Report 1910. HKAR 1910, C10, C34. 7. Registrar General Report 1907. HKSP 1908, Table IX. 8. Registrar General Report 1910. HKAR 1910, C10. 9. Registrar General Report 1911. HKAR 1911, C11-C12; IL= Inland Lot. 10. SCA Report 1920. HKAR 1920, C12, 67. 11. Ho FC. Western Medicine for Chinese. Hong Kong: Hong Kong University Press; 2018: 145. 12. SCA to Hon Colonial Secretary 30 September 1964 Chinese Public Dispensaries (Winding Up) Bill, Hong Kong Public Records Office, MD 227/50, HKRS 1394-1-26.

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