TROUBLESOME GIRLS

Auckland Star, Volume LXXV, Issue 62, 14 March 1944, Page 6

TROUBLESOME GIRLS

CASES AT HOSPITAL

BOARD ASKS FOR REMOVAL

It was unanimously agreed by the Auckland Hospital Board last night to request the Health Department, or other responsible body, to accommodate and confine outside the hospital grounds girls suffering from venereal disease who were at present housed in the hospital area. It was to be understood, stated a resolution moved by Mr. W. A. Bishop that, provided they were transported to and from the V.D. clinic, the board was prepared to give them the necessary treatment in the event of the Health Department being unable to arrange treatment elsewhere.

Mr. Bishop made it clear that his resolution applied only to girls who flouted the law and not to those who voluntarily attended the clinic. It

was not intended in any way to deny the girls treatment, but for the sake of the nursing staff and patients of the hospital the girls in question should be accommodated elsewhere. They had refused to attend the clinic or their own private practitioner for treatment, and had been committed to the hospital either by a magistrate or the Health Department because of this. The girls were unruly and difficult to manage. Some of them frequently left the hospital without permission, met servicemen and returned again. The nurses had no chance of stopping them, and in any case did not wish to put hands on them. The watchman had a difficult job in the grounds after dark.

"These girls often fight among themselves, even to the point of personal injury," said Mi'. Bishop. "For these and other reasons we should not be expected to find accommodation for them."