HOSPITAL BOARDS

Press, Volume LXXXIII, Issue 25246, 26 July 1947, Page 10

HOSPITAL BOARDS

AMENDMENT BILL INTRODUCED (P.A.) WELLINGTON, July 25. Authority for a hospital board to a deputy-chairman is contained in the Hospitals’ and Charitable Institutions Amendment Bill, which was introduced in the House of Representatives this morning by the Minister of Health (Miss M. B. Howard). The Minister said the bill empowered hospital boards, with the prior consent of the Minister, to provide specified services of a preventive nature, including X-ray, medical, and other examinations of persons who submitted themselves to such examinations; vaccination inoculation, or other treatment to obtain immunity against disease; and the carrying out of laboratory tests and examinations. The purposes for which boards may combine are extended to include the maintenance of various services, including laboratory and mobile X-ray services.

The bill states that the person occupying the Chair of Obstetrics and Gynaecology in Auckland University College shall be appointed by the Auckland Hospital Board as the medical director of any obstetrical and gynaecological hospital it may maintain.

To the Leader of the Opposition (Mr S G. Holland) who asked who would control the proposed hospital and whether the director would be free from domination by the Government or the board, the Minister said she wojild prefer to discuss those details when moving the second reading of the bill.