EPIDEMIC ORGANISATION.

Auckland Star, Volume L, Issue 140, 13 June 1919, Page 8

EPIDEMIC ORGANISATION.

; SOME OFFICIAL HFNTS. I i (Special to '"Star. 1 WELLINGTON, thi* day. Profiting by its experience in the last j influenza epidemic, the Public Health I Department has published in its journal i a series of suggestions to hospital i boards for the economical conduct of epidemic organisation. Co-operation in j advertising is one of the suggestions for inonev-saving. a* there was a good deal .if overlapping on the last occasion. The I question- of funerals has already been 1 the subject of public statements, and the suggestions follow the lines of the circular t.> hospital Hoards. It is suggested that medical opinion having decided what drugs and mixtures arc essential, the Hospital Board should 1 immediately publish the prescriptions of stock medicines and arrange the prices t,i be paid. "There should be no such j in-tan---.- as came under the notice of i the Department of chemists sending in ! accounts, amounting t-ometimes to hunilieds of pounds, for stock medicines at ' I'll per gallon, the ingredients of • which, according to the wholesale prieeiists. cost only 5/1. Here, again. I.cards should overhaul their drug coni tracts, and ask themselves whether they I are getting full value for their money."' Immediately there is any warning of j a recurrence of an epidemic it is sugj get-ted that Boards should stock up I fully, at least to the maximum if not over requirements, for the possible fur-iii-lnni: of temporary hospitals, as these supplies can always be used up in the ordinary course. Hurried buying at the retail price is deprecated. The Department took ar. early stand on this j point bust year, and the shopkeepers themselves, states the official article. I showed a most patriotic spirit, with the result that discounts were obtained in many eases as high as 20 per cent. It is pointed out. in dealing with , voluntary workers, that they cannot in many case-, continue to work indefii nitely for nothing. Moreover, there are some kinds of work in which it is necessary to consider primarily not whether tiie proffered service is to be voluntary, but whether it is essential that the most suitable person should be given the work. "It is not only false economy to employ unskilled workers in some classes of work merely because they are voluntary workers, but it is often a matter of life and death. This is even so in work of purely a clerical nature, e.g., the officer in charge of the bureau that attends to calls for assistance, ambulances, etc.. should be a good organiser of thoroughly approved capacity." Generally speaking, the Department regards 10/ per day as a generous remuneration for unskilled workers. It declines to recognise the unpleasant nature of the employment for it draws a parallel with the soldier, who did his unpleasant work for 5/ per day in a time of national stress. "As a matter of fact." continues the article- "ten shillings a day is too much to pay for some kinds of voluntary work. For instance, it is absurd that girls of fifteen ' and sixteen engaged simply in washing dishes should claim £3 10/ per week ' wages on the ground that they volunteered their services on the understand ing the 10/ per day was to be paid. Ii ' the case of another epidemic, after the names on the roll are exhausted, appli " cation should be made immediately fot J workers, and the scale of pay must ' J necessarily be determined on the question of supply and demand, but it should [ be settled by due relation to a scale drawn up in regard to the nature of the ' work." The Department declares that persons able to pay for treatment should do so, and where doctors are worked on the block system they should furnish a ' list of names of patients to the board. • which should endeavour to collect pay- • ment of fees from patients themselves.