BURDEN ON WAIKATO.

Auckland Star, Volume LV, Issue 172, 22 July 1924, Page 6

BURDEN ON WAIKATO.

A VERY BAD BARGAIN. UPKEEP OP EOTORUA HOSPITAL. (By Telegraph.—Own Correspondent.) HAMILTON, this day. The Waikato Hospital Board has been badly "had" by the Health Department. Rotorua happens to be in the Waikato Hospital district, and when the King George Hospital ceased to be purely a soldiers' institution, the Department sought to shift the expense of administering it on to the shoulders of the Waikato Board, arguing that as it was in the Board's area,, it was the Board's duty to maintain it. The Board had previously be™ paying the Department a. lump sum annually of £300 towards its upkeep. This was practically a total loss to the Board, as the amount of revenue in rates received by the Board from Rotorua is only £536, and this amount is paid out in charitable relief in the town. The Department, therefore, i either cajoled or coerced the Board into an agreement to pay 9/ per day for every Waikato patient in the hospital. To Rotorua, however, gravitate cripples ! and sick from all parts of the Dominion : aud the world, and after remaining there I a stabalised period, they automatically become residents of the Waikato Hospital district. As the King George Hospital is an orthopaedic institution 1 the patients are usually there ! for a very lengthy period, and many of j them are incurable. A good proportion I arc also Maoris. It has been found 1 that iv the majority of cases the fees I cannot be collected. Last year the Board, instead of the customary £300 contribution, was forced to pay £-4500.. and the sum promises to grow with succeeding years. The new arrangement also entails a tremendous amount of ' additional bookkeeping. The members of I the Board arc very scattered, and they only meet once a month for a couple of hours. They had not, therefore, a proper opportunity of countering the Inspec- , tor-General's strategy. They have for I some time been seeking a further inter- , view with the Inspector-General, but ! ;hat gentleman has not yet found it "conj venient" to grant one.