UNPAID HOSPITAL DUES.

Press, Volume LXV, Issue 13609, 18 December 1909, Page 8

UNPAID HOSPITAL DUES.

The habit of leaning on the State for aid, which has become so characteristic of many New Zealanders, is especially marked in connection with hospital treatment. The report of the Inspec-tor-General of Hospitals annually draws attention to thii unfortunate feature of hospital finance, and this year Dr. Valintine assertM that at present patients' payments ''barely amount to one- " eighth of the total receipts." The increase in payjnents during last year was in proportion to tho increase in admissions, and Dr. Valintine thinks an improvement in this source of revenue may reasonably be looked for, " especially as there is an increasing " tendency oii the part of persons who "are able to pay to take advantage of "our public hospitals." The phrase " to take advantage of the hospitals" was, _wo fej/r, too well chosen, though Dr. Valintime no doubt used it without thought of the more sinister meaning which is ai applicable to the present case. For' that is just what a great many hospital patients do—they take advantage of the hospital and of the by obtaining free tho treatment for .which they should pay, and for which they would pay if they had any sen* to of honour and a soul above cadging,' There can be no sound objection to persons whose moderate means will ndj permit them to go into a private and who cannot be treated in their homes, being attended in a mtblic institution so long as they pay the comparatively trifling charges, but it must be remembered that the prireftry purpose of public hospitals is the treatment of the poor who can pay nothing. No one, not even the most sevf/re economist, grudges the money spaht in that direction; it is one of th<J privileges, to say nothing of the dtyties, of those who are comfortably off to assist the less fortunate. Ijjfut we fancy that if all the details of payments by patients at the hospitals be published, they would create .amazement and contempt, for it would then be seen how common is the practice of men who are well-to-do "taking advantage" of tho hospital to secure free medical or surgical treatment. In this respect, we believe, no one hospital is better off than any other. The subject wac brought up for discussion at a meeting of the Wellington District Hospital Board by Mr Gardener, a country member, who pointed' out that throughout the Dominion only £28,000 was collected from patients last year out of £138,000 due, and that in the case of the Wellington Hospital over £11,000 remained uncollected out of £15,000 that was owing. At the Otaki Hospiial, £165 had! been collected out of £780, and at tho Sanatorium £294 out of £648. Mr Gardener asserted his belief that half the 3970 out-patients who attended the hospital during the year should never have gone near the place ; he knew of women who put on . old clothes in order to get medicine for a shilling as out-patients. The secretary to tho Board, whose salary was described by one of the members as "a " miserable pittance," said double as much could be got in if the Board engaged a canvasser, which appears probable in view of the very mild methods now employed by the Board in connection with the institutions at Otaki— nothing was said about the practice at the Wellington Hospital. An out-going patient is handed a bill showing the amount of fees due by him. If he does not pay within six months, he receives a reminder, and at the end of another three months, if no payment is made, another notice is sent to him; "but it " was not of much use," said the secretary. One can quite believe it, especially as the magistrates usually refuse to make an order for payment. The Board seem to have decided to leave matters alone- until the new Act comes into force. It is too much, to hope that the discussion will remedy the existing scandal, but it should help to create a more healthy public opinion, and thus strengthen the hands of the incoming Board.