‘Savings needed for new Chch Hospital’

Press, 16 July 1983, Page 8

‘Savings needed for new Chch Hospital’

Parliamentary reporter To get the new Christchurch Hospital built, says the Minister of Health, Mr Malcolm, he has to save some millions of dollars. This was the main point in his reply to the comments (“The Press,” July 14) of the Deputy Leader of the Opposition, Mr Palmer, that the $lOO million cost and the Labour political domination of Christchurch were causing the Government to drag its feet. “Mr Palmer is half right,” Mr Malcolm said, “because the $lOO million cost is a

considerable difficulty.” It had to be remembered that this suggested cost represented the biggest block of capital expenditure anywhere in New Zealand on hospitals for the rest of this century. “His other comments are irrelevant and I do not want to get into a party political sideshow over them,” Mr Malcolm said. He referred to Mr Palmer’s comment that “Christchurch, in the Government’s scheme of things, does not enjoy the priority some northern and more. populous centres seem to

enjoy.” Mr Malcolm said that Mr Palmer was really “leading with his political chin” in saying that about health spending. “Compared with Christchurch, northern and more populous regions, by which I assume he means Auckland, have been starved of funds for years. “It is wrong in terms of health spending to talk of 'poor Christchurch’,” Mr Malcolm said. He welcomed that the Labour Party seemed to understand what he was doing, and to support it.