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Children's hospital celebrates

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Young volunteers are invited to join an organisation that has helped to improve medical treatment for disabled children around the world.

Fifty years ago, the Society for the Relief of Disabled Children (SRDC) set up the 25-bed Sandy Bay Children's Convalescent Home - now the Duchess of Kent Children's Hospital - in Pokfulam.

It soon made a name as a pioneer in the battle against tuberculosis and polio before becoming one of Asia's biggest children's hospitals.

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Over the years, the centre has achieved tremendous success in treating disabled children. During the 1950s and 60s, together with the University of Hong Kong, the centre developed a groundbreaking frontal spine technique, which is known in the global medical community as the 'Hong Kong Operation'.

Later the hospital developed another world first - the 'halo-pelvic' spine-straightening traction device. In 1977, it got a new name - the Duchess of Kent Children's Hospital.

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As the number of patients increased, the SRDC handed it over to the Hospital Authority.

'Before we handed the hospital to the government, we had to raise at least a quarter of our operational costs every year, which was quite a daunting task for us,' said SRDC chairman, Louis Hsu, during the society's golden anniversary celebration at Sandy Bay last Friday.

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