THE CAMBRIDGE SANATORIUM.

Auckland Star, Volume XXXVIII, Issue 256, 26 October 1907, Page 6

THE CAMBRIDGE SANATORIUM.

DR. PENTREATH'S REPORT. DISCUSSED DT PARLIAMENT. (By Tclegraptt.—Parliamentary Reporter.) WELLINGTON, this day. Mr. Massey stook the opportunity afforded by an imprest supply bill to comment upon the fact that when the report of the Public Health Department was presented to Parliament he had asked why the report for the Waikato Sanatorium from D. Pentreath, for the year ending March 31st, 1906, was not included. This report had now been placed in his hands, and he read it in order to put it on record. He thought it wax improper that the report should have been excluded from the Department's report, especially as the people paid for the upkeep of the institution. The report of Dr. Pentreath, which is dated April 30. 1900, states:—"The number of new cases admitted since April 1, 1905, was 142, which, with the 53 cases already under treatment on that date, brings the total number of cases treated during the past year to 195. While the proportion of hopeless cases sent in has considerably diminished, it is a melancholy face that in by far the greater number of cases the disease, although capable of considerable temporary alle-! viation, is found to be incurable. The i reason for this, in my opinion, is to bo i found in the excessively humid and | windy climate which prevails here, in ! common with many other parts of this | colony. The best results in treating phthisis are obtainable only in those ! parts of the world where the air is extremely dry and cold, or, less desirably, dry and hot. The conditions, however, are only to be found on a continent j —even there, in ruountainons or desert i regions only—and , are unattainable in I small islands like these, which are con- j I tinually . swept by the moisture-laden ' sea breezes. Hence I believe that the ■ chief value of this institution will be i found to be educational, in the preven- I tion of disease, rather than curative j for the individual sufferers. Of the 53 , patients who were tinder treatment on j April 1, 1905, 10 were apparently 'cured;' j 25 left, discharged incurable; the tubercle ' baccilus was not found in three out of the 10 apparently 'cured.' Of the 142 j patients admitted during the past year j 25 were discharged apparently 'cured;' | 36 left-benefited; 35 were discharged as j incurable, and two died within seven days and 12 weeks respectively after admission. It must be stated, however, that out of the 25 cases apparently cured there were at least 13 in which the tubercle bacillus was not present, and ' in regard to which there existed great j doubt in my mind as to whether phthisis j was actually present or not. Some of these might be classed as pre-phthisical. I am glad to be able to report that during the last, four months of the financial year I have reduced the cost of ! management by 19s 8d per bed per week, '• as conipared with the last six months !of the preceding year. This represents ia saving of £50 per week, and this ; economy has been effected without in ' any way interfering with the efficient , treatment and comfort of the patients, jby preventing waste, reducing the staff, . and in. so far as I have been permitted, replacing the inefficient by the efficient." j The Hon. G. Fowlds questioned the ' ethics of an officer, after leaving the Department, furnishing a Departmental document in the way it had been furnished, and he aiso questioned the wisdom of the leader of the Opposition in placing it before the House, seeing that it had come up in such an irregular fashion. 'It was thought necessary to keep back I parts "of the report in the interests of I the institution.' It was' not incumbent to include the reports of every officer in the reports of the different institutions. In this case, an attempt was made by the officer who was leaving to injure- the reputation of the institution by making statements regarding the climate of Waikato, Where the sanatorium was situated, which -were in direct contradiction to the statements made by the same officer on a previous occasion. He. had, therefore, deemed it right -in the interests of the institution that these points should be left out. He had last year been in a condition of uneasiness over the large demand made for the requirements of the institution, i which he thought looked like- extravagance. In his opinion the institution had been allowed to run down to ' a condition altogether unsatisfactory, as ! the medical superintendent reported this year.

Mr. Kidd said' he was satisfied with the Minister's explanation, but not satisfied with the system prevailing at the institution. He saw no objection 'to the publication of the report; it could do no injury to the institution, for the paTt of it which referred to its situation was one upon which there were many opinions. What he objected to was the absence of a resident medical officer. This was one of the blots upon the institution. He could not see how the present doctor, who lived eight miles away, and had a large country practice, could attend to an institution, which was rapidly increasing in siza, and now averaged 70 patients. At Otaki the doctor lived within a stone throw, and he believed this institution, at a much less cost than the one at Cambridge, showed more genuine improvement in its patients. He had received a letter in regard to a patient at Cambridge who was now dead, who did not receive a visit from the doctor for a week.