SUN TREATMENT FOR SICK PERSONS

Press, Volume LXX, Issue 21197, 22 June 1934, Page 18

SUN TREATMENT FOR SICK PERSONS

SOLARIUM HELD TO BE UNNECESSARY That the establishment of a special department of heliotherapy at the Christchurch Hospital is not warranted by the number of cases requiring sun treatment and that such cases as do exist receive adequate treatment at present was the opinion expressed yesterday by Dr. I. C. Macintyre, of the Cashmere Sanatorium. Dr. Macintyre was commenting on the message from Auckland published on Wednesday which stated that the Auckland Hospital Board had decided to consider the establishment of a department of heliotherapy. Dr. Macintyre agreed that sun treatment was the best that could be given in cases of surgical tuberculosis, but he considered that adequate treatment of these cases was already being given at the Christchurch Hospital, the wide balconies of which were used as solariums for the benefit of patients. Surgical tuberculosis was not a very common disease in Canterbury and its incidence would certainly not warrant the establishment of a special solarium at Castle Hill, as had been suggested. Perfectly satisfactory treatment could be given in Christchurch itself, or at least on the Cashmere Hills. Patients suffering from all kinds of diseases likely to benefit from sunlight are at. present treated on the balconies of the hospital. Dr. Macintyre said he believed that this method was satisfactory, considering the New Zealand climate, and that the cost of establishing a special department, or still more of building a special solarium at such a place as Castle Hill, would quite outweigh the additional benefits likely to be gained.