CONSUMPTIVE SOLDIERS.

Press, Volume LIV, Issue 16358, 1 November 1918, Page 8

CONSUMPTIVE SOLDIERS.

STATEMENT BY SIR JAMES ALLEN. (special to "the fress.' ? ) WELLINGTON, October 31. Referring lo the statements ihat have been published regarding the provision for consumptive soldiers at Rotorua ana ekcnvbere, the Minister of Defence (Sir James Allen) said that he had already asked for » full report oil the subject. It appeared that some misunderstandings existed. The statement, for example. that 700 or SCO men _ had returned to New Zealand, suffering from tuberculosis, was likely to create a false impression, since tho fact was _ that, most of the men sent back owing to tubercular trouble, improved so much on the voyage, that they could be discharged when they arrived here. It was not fair to say that the Dcfence Department, had delayed making provision for the consumptive soldiers. In addition to To Waikato Sanatorium, there were the Cashmere Hills Sanatorium, m Canterbury, and the Pleisant Valley Sanatorium, in Otago. The Cashmere Hills Sanatorium was an excellent place. A contract had bepn let for the proposed sanatorium near Waipukurau m Hawke's «Bny, and the building was to be finished in six months. The Minister added that he was considering th-.v provision of an institution where tubercular returned soldiers could be held for observation before being passed into the sanatoria. His own opinion was that the men whoso eases were severe ought to be placed in annexes to the general hospital in their own districts, in order that they might Be rear their relatives. CONDITIONS AT ROTORUA. (PRESS ASSOCIATION TET.EGRAM.) AUCKLAND, October 31. Reporting on the conditions at the Rotorua Hospital, the committee says: —"Every opportunity was given us to fcee everything we wished to inspect at Rotorua, but, from telegraphic in.fitructions which we saw to the officers in charge they weTe not free to supply any statistics of the past, nor were thoy authorised to express any opinions regarding the effectiveness of the methods of treatment and the duration of the same, or the adequacy of the accommodation. The sanatorium was originally built for about 40 patients, but has been enlarged by a hotch-potch of additions to accommodate, say, 90, in a more or less makeshift manner. The sanatorium is a decidedly unattractivelooking place. Inside, "the wards are dismal, with a general air of shabbiness. Th© floor coverings are worn and threadbare, while a fresh coat of paint all round would make a gyeat improvement. The smoking and sitting-room could hardly be more cheerless and uncomfortable, and some effort should be made to render it more homelike. At present it is calculated to give any patient the 'blues' by its depressing tone. In the bath house there have been no structural additions during the war. The accommodation for massage treatment in the bath house is pitiably small, and is already congested. Rooms originally designed for one patient at a time, are no-fr accommodating three, t four, or more. To illustrate the scale I of the increase, the treatments in the bath house during December, 1915, were while for August, 1918, there were 4000, Tho electric apparatus is also overworked, and it seemod that 20 hrirnctowe batteries instead of two could he effectively used. A makeshift policy is here allowed to exist also, and the men's treatment cannot but be delayed by it." As to whether adequate hospital accommodation was being provided for orthotreatment, continued the report, Kir James Allen had made a statement that 80 per cent, of the returned wounded needed some orthopaedic or curative treatment, and that the North Island stirsical hospital to be established at Rotorna was to contain 136 beds. This tho committee thought inadequate. Orthopaedic treatment certainly averagsd six months per pat'ent. During i tho past six months about 5000 returnled soldiers had arrived in New Zealand. A th at half of those were nob wounded and did not require specia' treatment, of the other half, say, 80 per cent., or 2000, reoaired orthopaedic treatment, half each in the North and! j South Island. The question was, how could the treatment of these 1000 i ■Doesibly he provided in the proposed North Tsland orthopaedic establishment and workshops _ without evaluating thf» men as ont-natients before their ireatmontwas fully complete, thus running \ tha risk of retarding their ultimate re- " Such a number of patients required a hiiffe establishment of .trained j masseurs. whiVh did not exjjt at .pre- ! pent. The proh'em was a difficult, one. j but it was evident that pom« of the returned m»n were hound to suffer lack of efficient treatment, or at least i from delay.