THE HOSPITAL BOARD.

Press, Volume LII, Issue 9281, 5 December 1895, Page 6

THE HOSPITAL BOARD.

TO THE EDITOR OT THE PEESS. Sir, —Ou reading over the report of tho meeting of the Hospital Board in this evening's Truth I was surprised to find how disloyal to the Hospital the Chairman, Mr Moor, was in his statement. He utterly ignored the services of both the Resident and Visiting Staff, and allowed his zeal in favour of ' a private institution kept by a Mrs Brown to make him forget what was due to his position. He speaks of aseptic surgery being introduced for the first time in New Zealand at this private hospital, and goes on to show what splendid results are there obtained. If he had taken the trouble to be just to the Christchurch Hospital he would have found out that not every person there operated on dies. I feel in justice to myself, as one of the visiting surgeons, that I should state that during my term of office I have operated on every cavity of the body—head, chest and abdomen—some of these operations of the greatest gravity, and in not a single instance, except iv two cases where I was asked to operate on moribund patients to give them a last chance of life, with a fatal result. If tbe Chairman had referred to the Hospital books he would have found that even " his niece with consumption of the bowels" had her counterpart in the Christchurch Hospital under my care, was operated on by mc. and restored to health.

If one gives, as I have done, the best care aud attcution to patients under his care, with results that canuot be gainsaid, it is not very encouraging that the gentleman who should be the first to give you credit utterly ignores your work, and allows it to be inferred that you practice your art in a way that is not safe for your patients. The Hospital records show that during this year I have performed 82 operations, 43 of them major ones, the abdomen having been opened 24 times with the results I have already stated.—Yours, _c, CotJRTNEir Nedwill, M.D. Christchurch, December 4th.