T.B. IN NEW ZEALAND.

Auckland Star, Volume LIX, Issue 177, 28 July 1928, Page 14

T.B. IN NEW ZEALAND.

NOT A NATIONAL MENACE MEDIQAL COMMITTEE'S FINDING. BUT FIGHT MUST- CONTINUE. MORE CO-ORDINATION ADVISED. (By Telegraph.—Parliamentary Reporter.) I WELLINGTON, Friday. "Investigation has shown the committee that pulmonary tuberculosis in New Zealand does not constitute a grave national menace," states the special medical committee, which has reported to the Government on the treatment and accommodation of T.B. patients in New Zealand. "Fewer people die from all forms of tuberculosis than are killed by violence. As far as can be ascertained, the prevalence of pulmonary tuberculosis in this country is less than in any other country. Substantial progress has been made in adopting measures for its control and treatment, but pulmonary tuberculosis is art insidious and protracted infective disease, which will gain ground and become a menace unless constantly repressed. The most important contribution that can be made to the successful issue of the campaign is co-ordination of the measures and of the efforts now employed in fighting the disease."

The committee comprised Dr. Frank Fitchett (chairman). Dr. D. Eai d ley Fenwick, and Dr. T. W. J. Johnson, and it makes thirteen recommendations for co-ordinating the fight against the disease.' They are: — (1) A division for tuberculosis to be established iu the Health Department under a director. (2) Hospital boards should be encouraged to establish tuberculosis dispensaries. (.'}) The routine use of tuberculin in sanatoria should he discouraged, (4) Medical superintendents of rfhnutoria should be urged to admit all cases that would be likely to benefit. (•")) The stay of minimal cases in sanatoria should not, as now, be unduly prolonged, (ft) The aeommodation at Otaki Sanatorium should be in«iuly. prolonged. (♦>) The accommodation should be provided for chronic cases in the special hospitals at Dunedin, Wellington, Christciiurch and Auckland.

Study of the Disease. (8) Sufficient accommodation for tuberculous cslses should be reserved at the general hospitals in the centres mentioned for the benefit of patients, and to afford medical practitioners and medical students opportunities for studying the disease. (9) The medical profession should be encouraged to cooperate with local authorities, the Health Department, and voluntary aid associations in their efforts to control the disease. (10) The Otago Hospital Board should be encourayed to join with the associated boards to form one association. (11) The hospital boards in the South Island, north of Ashburton, should be encouraged to form an association with a committee representative of each district. (12) Specially trained nurses snouTd' be employed for inspection of cases in homes. (13) The establishment of voluntary aid committees for discharged patients and cases in homes should bp eneouraged.

.Hospitals Not Deficient. Hie committee-says that New Zealand does not lag behind other countries in its measures for the treatment and prevention of consumption,, In the extensive report, details are given of the characteristic treatment in every institution, .and the result of this analysis goes to show that except for a deficiency in sanatoria accommodation for women in the North Island, the existing institutions are adequate. However, the committee strongly recommends that the grouping system adopted by » numl>#r of South Island hospital boards for the maintenance of the Waipiata Sanatorium should be extended, so that the whole Dominion will be similarly covered. Grouped Sanatoria Suggested. New Zealand provides more hospital beds for consumptives, proportionately, than any otheV country in the world. The committee, however, devotes much attention to the class of minima patient found in several institutions, suggesting that home treatment be given under medical supervision if its recommendations are followed. There is adequate hospital accommodation for all patients, cxcept chronic, for which provision must be made, while in the North Island 20 more beds should be provided for women at Otaki.

Stressing the necessity for supervision after discharge from hospital, the committee considers that if relief were given 011 a more liberal basis the consumptive, patient would have a better chance of maintaining his health and prolonging his life. Whether this extra provision should be made by the Hospital Boards or whether the Govern-' ment should introduce an invalidity pension scheme is a matter upon which the committee does jiot feel competent to express an opinion. The committee recommends the establishment in the main hospital districts of '"care committees," comprising voluntary workers, together with representatives of the Health Department, the Hospital Board and the local authority. Its funds should be derived from voluntary contributions raised on a national basis. The committee finds that commendable progress in the co-ordination of all agencies dealing with tuberculosis has been made in the south, where several hospital boards have combined to build and maintain the Waipiata Sanatorium. This is a good beginning, and it has been suggested that a pooling scheme, to embrace all hospital boards in each ialand, be adopted. The chairman of the Auckland Hospital Board has stated that he favours a pooling scheme for the North Island, with a central sanatorium, say at Waimarino, but the , committee's opinion is that any scheme that involves the scrapping of two such admirable institutions as Pukeora and Otaki is not to be entertained. When need for another sanatorium arises it should be located in the Auckland province, and supported by an association of hospital boards of Southern -Aiicklanfl, Bay of Plenty, Auckland and Northern Auckland. The control of present sanatoria might then pass from the Government to a committee selected from the hospital boaTds of the Ea:st Hawke's Bay, Wellington province and Taranaki. Advice to South Island.

The committee states that it is difficult to understand why the Otago Hospital Board should stand out from the South Island pooling scheme. It b« better, it states, If* all the .in the South Island, North of pAjhburton, formed an association and •fSrjjP .a representative committee to sanatorium at Cashmere. A flnal or ,^* e whole of the South Island commend itself to the com-