First talk "A Matter of Life and Death : Development of Emergency Medicine" in Subject talks on Centred on People : Specialist Healthcare Services and Everyday Life

Co-organised by TWGHs Records and Heritage Office and Hong Kong Public Libraries

Subject talks on "Centred on People : Specialist Healthcare Services and Everyday Life"

After the end of the Second World War, Hong Kong was in desperate need of reconstruction, and healthcare facilities became inadequate as the population surged. This prompted the government to provide subsidies to voluntary healthcare institutions in a bid to ensure the provision of healthcare services in Hong Kong. By the 1960s, society had become more stable. In response to public demand for healthcare services, the government began to lay down long-term healthcare policies set out to improve the healthcare system, expand basic healthcare services and develop specialist healthcare.

As a long-term partner of the government, the Tung Wah Group of Hospitals has developed diversified healthcare services in line with the government's public health policies since the 1960s. The initiatives included expansion or redevelopment works carried out in Tung Wah hospitals to increase service space and improve the quality of healthcare services. Meanwhile, the development of specialist services is also an important part of Tung Wah's healthcare policy. In this talk series, healthcare professionals will examine the development of specialist healthcare, such as Emergency Medicine, Obstetrics, and Medicine and Geriatrics, as well as its relationship with social development and people’s everyday lives.

First talk："A Matter of Life and Death : Development of Emergency Medicine"

The Accident & Emergency (A&E) Department is the gateway to a hospital. People with all sorts of health conditions walk through its doors and are never turned away. How do the A&E doctors race against the clock to save patients from the brink of death? Hong Kong’s earliest A&E Department was established in Queen Mary Hospital in 1947. Before the Second World War, how were medical emergencies handled? After the war, Emergency Medicine has gone through various stages of development. In 1997, the Hong Kong College of Emergency Medicine became a member of the Hong Kong Academy of Medicine, and training of specialists in Emergency Medicine was normalised. How do specialists in Emergency Medicine learn the many skills they are required to have? This talk will give you a glimpse of the A&E Department while illustrating the history of Emergency Medicine as well as its relationship with Hong Kong's social development.