Page 50 - HKU Surgery 110 Anniversary E-Book

Chapter II: Hong Kong’s First Academic Surgical Unit
Post-War Recovery
The post-war period was ver y
difficult for everyone in Hong Kong.
In the wake of the Sino-Japanese
war and 1949 revolution in China,
hundreds of thousands of people fled
to the city. The population ballooned
from 500,000 in 1945 to 2.2 million
in 1950 and kept growing by about
one million people per decade to the
end of the century. Incomes were
low, living conditions were crowded
and unsanitary, and medical services
struggled to keep up. At Queen Mary
Hospital, surgical wards were jam-
packed with camp beds, a situation
that persisted for decades.
The rapid increase in patient loads
meant there were not enough senior
Back on Track
The Department of Surgery, and the rest
of HKU, had to rebuild pretty much from
scratch when they reopened in 1946.
Both Queen Mary Hospital and the
University had been damaged in the
war, including the Main Building which
lost its roof. Dr John Gray was head of
surgery at HKU and also Acting Head
of Surgery at Queen Mary Hospital – a
rather thankless task, evidenced by the
scant information that remains about his
tenure from 1945-48.
HKU was still the only local institution
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opening the Department’s doors to an Orthopaedic and Trauma Unit was
students, it was up to his successor,
founded to focus on spinal tuberculosis
Professor Francis Stock, to re-establish and poliomyelitis, and it pioneered
medical staff to oversee every patient’s its teaching and research regimen. Stock ground-breaking procedures, including
care (in fact, a number of pre-war had his work cut out for him, given the the “Hong Kong Operation”. The unit
staff had died during the war or left minimal resources and very crowded later became a department of its own in
Hong Kong shortly after, including conditions in hospitals. But, as only the 1961. A chair of paediatric surgery was
Digby). As a result, young doctors second full-time professor of surgery also established in 1962.
and even interns and students were (after Digby), he was keen to raise
tasked with performing operations standards and promote research. Over Alongside these advances, though,
and other major responsibilities. 15 years as Professor of Surgery, from Stock’s tenure was marked by tense
Fortunately, they had rigorous 1948 to 1963, Stock laid building blocks relations with some of his colleagues.
training and strict and demanding for future success. He was said to have not been on speaking
professors – all necessary for matters terms with the government surgical
of life and death, even though, for Stock emphasised quality assurance, and consultant, Dr John Chen, and to have
a while, fewer than half of students he reviewed all surgical complications poor relations with the uncompromising
graduated. Talented and ambitious and post-operative deaths at the weekly Professor of Medicine, AJS McFadzean.
students took advantage of the Census Meeting, which remains an (Interestingly, McFadzean hit it off with
opportunities to rise through the important departmental activity today Stock’s successor, GB Ong, who was
Department’s ranks and inspired for learning, improving patient care equally headstrong.) Stock left Hong
others to follow. and sparking research ideas. He notably Kong in 1963 to continue a successful
identified the need for specialisation, career in the UK.
starting with orthopaedics. In 1951,
to provide medical training and thus
future doctors for a growing population,
and in 1948, it resumed undergraduate
classes. Degrees were also awarded to
those students who had fled Japanese-
occupied Hong Kong at the start of
the war and continued their studies in
Free China – including future head of
surgery, Professor GB Ong, and his wife,
Dr Christina Chow. They were among 63
students to receive “war-time degrees”
between 1946 and 1948.
While Gray completed the task of Professors Stock (far right) and Hodgson (far left) with external examiners
at HKU.
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