TO FIGHT INFECTION.

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 774, 24 March 1910, Page 8

TO FIGHT INFECTION.

HOSPITAL CEREMONY. MR. FOWLDS AND THE NEW ACT. 'The ceremony of affixing the tablet at the new Hospital for. Infectious Diseases was performed yesterday afternoon by the Hon. George Fowlds, Minister for Public Health, in the presence of a fairly large gathering of Hospital and Charitable Aid officials, medical men, and members of the Hospital staff, Tho Hon- C. M. Luke, M.L.C., chairman of tho Hospital Trustees, made a short speech, in which he • expressed the appreciation of the trustees for the sympathy of the citizens of Wellington in the endeavour to lighten the burden of the sick in this district. He then reviewed various hospital and charitable aid' works which, from repeated notices in, print, are already very familiar. He did this, he said,' as a trustee of twenty-five years or more standing, and one ■ who .was, at least for the time being; retiring from Hospital administration. Hβ was unable at present to continue his endeavours in this direction, bnt he "hoped at some future time to come back to the work which had always had bis sympathy.

Danger of Epedemics,

Danger 'nas always threatened this .community, said the speaker, referring to the epidemic of about two which resulted in' about 'forty patients beijig treated at the Hospital, whilst another eighty or a hundred patients could not be. taken in. As a result of the patients'having to be'treated in their own homes, the epidemic was prolonged,.as it should not have been, for some years ' now. the Hospital' Trustees had felt convinced' that when the Infectious Diseases Hospital had been erected, there was. nothing more urgently needed than an:,up-to-date institution for the reception of sick children. The present Children's Hospital was a temporary building, erected ;some nineteen years ago, and at the time it was erected it was only expected to serve for a few| years. It had now grown quite beyond its uses, and it was not an unheard-of thing for a patient who came-in to the institution with one complaint to contract another one during stay. He sincerely hoped that the, citizens of Wellington, would respond-to: the call for a proper hospital for the sick children of the district. His Worship "the Mayor/had promised, to interest himself in the matter, and more about it would be heard before very long. Mr;. Luke expressed their' regTet that, Mrs. S. A. Rhodes had been unable to attend the present ceremony, and read apologies rroin the Hons. D. Buddo, R. M'Kenzie, arid Dr. Findlay. >

: Mr. Hunt, of the firm of Messrs. Hunt and M'Donald,, contractors for the building, then presented the Hon. Geo. Fowlds with a silver trowel as a memento of .'the occasion. The trowel bore the foUowing'inscription:; "Presented to the Hon. Geo.- Fowlds, on the occasion of the affixing of the tablet in connection with the construction of the Infectious ..Diseases Hospital,. Wellington, March 23, 1910.!' ,-.'.•. THE MINISTER'S SPEECH. In acknowledging the. memento the Hon. Mr. Fowlds offered his congratulations to those connected with the. administration of tihe: Wellington '.Hospital. Ho'trusted that at least some.of the trustees would persevere in their labours so.that the reputation.of the Wellington Hospital would continue _in the forefront as an institution to which similar bodies,in the'country could look to for guidance..;■ "It iyash|gh time,", said Mr. Fowlds,' "that such an'institution as the Infectious Diseases Hospital should be provided in a large and important centre liker-Wellington. Thfe, present arrangements fell far : short of the requiremeEts." For instance if was. quite impossible to have anything like proper and effective classification, and the old conditions were a blot on the fair fame of the city. It said a' great deal for the past administration that the infection from various infectious , diseases in the .special /ward set apart for £his class or case had not been carried into the:main building. He could quite understand some reluct-' ance on the part of the hoaid-to undertaking the necessarily heavy expenditure involved in the construction of such a building, especially when the majority of the diseases might be classified as preventible diseases, but he was very , much afraid that the time was very.far. distant when it would be_ possible-to do without such an institution altogether. It was a wise pre> caution to be ready in, case some epidemic should visit'us, and it was poor economy to postpone action until immediate necessity arose. The provision that had to_ be made hurriedly in such cases was - invariably characterised by unnecessary : expense. ' ' ■• . .

Congested Wellington. . ."Some.people considered that-the expenditure on. the present building was large.aad the cost was certainty heavy, but in his opinion it was by no means .unnecessary or extravagant. The accommodation, which was being provided in the present building, had : been kept down, to., the lowest point consistent with safety, expediency and the general interests of the community at large. Wellington had more need for accommodation of the kind than any of the other large centres. The city itself was - more congested than the other cities and the returns showed that there were a - larger number of persons living in each honse in Wellington than in Auckland, Christchurch, or Dunedin. Consequently the isolation, and. treatment of those suffering from infectious diseases was more diffioult here than elsewhere, and iihe need for provision of the Infectious Diseases Hospital was the,more urgent." Mr. Fowlds went on to draw, attention to the clauses in the Hospital and Charitable Aid Act of last session which provide, for ""local authorities delegating certain powers to the Hospital and Charitable Aid Board. Some of the duties could be much more effectively and economically performed by the board than by the iudividual local authorities,- and the former could assume the powers of a Board of Health. Of course, he would not expect a large city like Wellington to delegate all its powers under the Public Health Act, but it might with advantage as regards efficiency and economy leave the responsibility as to notification and isolation and disinfection after infectious cases, to the board. In the case, of smaller local bodifes, nearly all their functions uniier the Public Health Act could ■ be delegated to the board, excepting, perhaps, such matters as provision for wafcor supply and drainage. Delegation of Power, In the Act of last session it was.provided that the' board might elect committees composed of persons v'ho wore not necessarily members of the board so as to divide up the different branches of the work and the supervision and control of the different institutions. He would like to see a Public Health Committee formed, consisting of the members of the board and every Mayor and chairman of a local authority in the district as members ex oflicio- With such a committee concerted action could be taken as regards tho public, health'of the district. This could not bo done at present. A coinniitteo which had to taio the responsibility for tho treatment of tbfl sick .people. in the district should.-

have some say in matters likely to create sicknoss in the district. So long as conditions which caused sickness were allowed to continue, the board had to stand idly by, .haying no power to remove the causes that were helping to fill the hospitals. He trusted that the provision for the delegation of power to the Hospital Board would be universally availed of. Mr. FowJds ieferred to the recent election of the new boards, and regretted that a larger amount of interest had not been taken in the elections by the public. Recent Elections and Past Workers. At the same time, when the number of persons who voted was compared with the number who voted on f>ucb questions as loan proposals, which directly touched the pockets of \ho ratepayers, he did not know that the recent election suffered by comparison. There was no cause for alarm in Welfington at the result of the election. Many of those elected had done excellent service in 'years gone by, and their experience would be very useful They wanted good men and true at the helm to get the best results from the machinery provided. Although it might be necessary to drop some of the eld pilots and elect new men to steer the Hospital ship in the ' waters of the future, there were, still many old pilots whom they could not afford to drop. Mr.'Fowlds went on to refer to the quarter of a, century's work performed on behalf of hospitals by Mr. Luke. It was largely due to Mr. Luke's untiring zeal and publics spirit that the Wellington Hospital had attained tie proud position it holds to-day. They could ill afford to lose such a man as Mr. Luke, and although Mr. Luke could not see his way to allow himseif to be nominated for a seat on the new board ho-.(the speaker) hoped that the new board would invite him to sit en one of the committees they are able to set up. It would-be somewhat interesting to watch the way the new boards set to ■ work, particularly to see what . steps they would ,take in regard to the appointment of committees.

He was glad to see that Mr. It. C. Kirk and the Rev. W. A. Evans, both of whom had long and, honourable records behind them in various branches of the work, had been elected to the new board. Their special study of charitanlo relief would be of special value to the community. .Mr. Fowlds then formally set the tablet in- its place.