Assurance on heating sought

Press, 30 May 1981, Page 12

Assurance on heating sought

I An assurance th'at the ’ Government would meet the cost of any further heating fuel change for Christchurch hospitals in 1986 is sought by the North Canterbury Hospital Board. But the board's chairman, Mr T. C. Grigg, said that seeking such an assurance 1 was “pinpricking.” The Minister of Health (Mr Gair) has told the board in a telegram that Christchurch j Women’s, Coronation, and i The Princess Margaret hospitals would be converted to electrical heating, subject to a review of permanent fuel use being completed in time for any change of fuel in 1986. The closing of the Christchurch gas works in

March next year has made necessary an early decision on alternative heating fuels for the hospitals. . Mr H. A. Clark said that the board needed a written assurance by the Govern- : ment that if hospitals were : converted to another heating j fuel in 1986 the Government : would bear the cost. i Mr Grigg and several I other board members did not think that the Government would install electrical heating in the hospitals only to have it taken out again after a few years. The board’s chief executive, Mr R. I. Parker, said that the Government was merely reserving the right to review the heating of the hospitals.