HOSPITAL COSTS

Auckland Star, Volume LXXIII, Issue 134, 9 June 1942, Page 4

HOSPITAL COSTS

THERE was no alternative to the Hospital Board's decision to levy the ™?m* a " ed imposed. To budget for a deficit under war conditions wold be inexcusable, and since the local authorities concerned were unable to induce the Government to take over responsibility for Increased services demanded by both the war and social security the O?,.'U F ar 1 ry out its work cn the lines already planned The Increase though it is expressed in decimals of a penny is verv heavy indeed in terms of cash, amounting on the avferage to well over 80 per cent for each borough. The two chief contributing causes to this enormous rise are the maintenance of service patients, a varying number but generally well into the hundreds, for whom the board has to pav lil ? O, T' ls P own ,evies ' an d the fact that civilian patients whw L rn,t nf ihit Govern " ient at.the original rate of 6/ per day ™ ♦ / their care and treatment has risen by 4/6 a day in J* P* ' 0 " 1 ; years. Strong representations have been made b? the contributing local bodies to the Prime Minister, who has been urced ■houM P f«llon r th« thG C ° St A° f treatlng sick and wounded soldiers Mould raj] on the War Expenses Account, and that since the Hnsnitai Board was denied the right to increase fees under the social securitv the (Government should increase the contributions to the boards for this service. To both these representations the Prime Minister has lhl n £.^n a ',fV' th ° U ?K h ther ? } 8 a Possibility that he may Reconsider ilrww.r L» tilt a fv,i *° cla J securlt y contribution is concerned However, that is at the moment a remote contingency and the hoard has no option but to balance its budget on the position if Pvf/ti to-day. The Justice of the claim that the andnS the owners of property alone, paying for the restoration tn' htaith our soldiers cannot be denied, but the Suburban Local Bodies' Association In urging the Government to take over this resnnn<jihintv wJ atl °" it l miSd , ffii n i:i. a hSr rl ?^r 11 - an ? r ti? "-Sfflrats 1110 mind the higher levies must be met, even if this involves a sprinna decline in the ordinary maintenance work ol the city end lulurroSng