‘Spend more on dying’

Press, 12 November 1977, Page 23

‘Spend more on dying’

PA Wellington. For humanitarian reasons. New Zealand should have special hospices dedicated to the care of the terminally-ill, a Wellington cancer specialist, Dr Alan Gray, told Rotarians in Wellington.

It was better to care for such people away from other medical facilities, he said. Mr Roy McKenzie,

chairman of the J. R. McKenzie Trust, said it cost $75 to keep a patient in hospital for one day.

“Surely the Government could spend half of this to care for the terminally-ill at home,” he said in an address on care of the terminally-ill. Hospitals were not the best places for the care of the terminaliy-iil, said Mr McKenzie. Patients about to die were often hidden awav.

“If there was a special ward for the dying in times of staff shortages staff might be drawn away for what might be considered higher priority treatment.

He said there was great fear of many people that they would end up with a lingering illness, and become a burden on their relatives.

Society’s attitude itself was the cause of much suffering, and there was a need for people to be drawn nearer to the termi-nally-ill.

Mr McKenzie said that a lot of money was spent on cancer research, but a lot more should be spent on the 60 per cent of cancer patients who ultimately succumbed to their illness. There were a lot of dedicated people who could help, and more use could be made of them.