Emergency medicine in Hong Kong.

The inclusion of articles and a seminar series on emergency medicine in this issue of the Hong Kong Medical Journal illustrates that the specialty has matured well in Hong Kong. Medical colleagues might be forgiven for feeling confused about the exact definition of the specialty, which has changed its name at least twice during the second half of the 20th century. Many older doctors will remember having worked in ‘casualty’, which was merely an extension of the out-patient services until after the Second World War. As Wong notes, the nature of the work can be recognised in the pages of A Many Splendoured Thing by Dr Elisabeth Tang, writing under her pen-name of Han Suyin. The first casualty department in Hong Kong was established at the Queen Mary Hospital in 1947, and similar departments across the territory became gradually busier dealing with the health-care needs of waves of refugees from China. For many years, the Hong Kong medical system followed the British pattern closely, and not surprisingly ‘casualty’ departments in the Crown Colony became ‘Accident and Emergency’ (A&E) departments, in line with the recommendations of Sir Harry Platt’s working party of 1962. The change was intended to discourage the ‘casual’ use of the departments, but public willpower proved, as ever, stronger than that of the experts.