LONDON'S NEW HOSPITAL FOR WOMEN.

Dominion, 24 February 1913, Page 2

LONDON'S NEW HOSPITAL FOR WOMEN.

A hospital for women, officered by medical women, will shortly be opened on a site at Clapham Common that has been purchased with money subscribed before any public appeal was made for funds, writes the London correspondent of the "Daily Telegraph" of January 10. Miss Chadburn, M.D., 8.5., with whom the scheme originated, has received «. promise of .£25,000, which, with about XOOOO collected from friends of this movement, makes a total.of over JC30.000. . Moro money, however, is wanted for tho equipment and maintenance of the hospital and for providing a special department for X-ray treatment, etc. Only Miss Chadburn knows the source of this .£25,000 gift, nnd she is pledged to'secrecy. It did not oomc from one. single donor, but from several, who prefer to be known simply as "Friends of Medical Women." Tho need for such a hospital has been long felt. ' •'.'., At a meeting recently in connection with tho scheme at the house of Lauy Templemorc, who is one of tho vice-pre-sidents, Lady Bertha \ Dawkins stated that tho only , hospital in London for women, staffed entirely by women—the New Hospital in .Euston Road—was so much soitßht after by women that as many'm, 100 had been turned away in ono week. There is a growing demand among ,womcn to bo medically treated by members of their own.sex. Owing to the. hesitation many women feel about consulting a medical man, minor complaints common amongst'girls.and young women are neglected, while serious disease, such as oancer, frequently reaches a stage too far advanced to permit of operation dofore advice is sought. ■ , The '• general hospitals of. London, with the exception of the Royal Free i Hospital, in Gray's Inn Road, do not admit women on their honorary 6taff, and the special hospitals for diseases of women uro in every case staffed solely by medical men. The new institution will boUcnowii as the, South London Hospital for Women,.and will consist of an in-patient department with general wards for ordinary hospital patients, who, if they can afford it, will.pav a small sum per week, also private wards for patients at an inclusive cost of'from one to threo guineas a week. Those wards are intended for women of small means who should,not be occupying teds intended for the very poor in an ordinaryihospital wanl. Were, will' be> an bnt-patjent department, at- ' tached, to. which' shall bo an .almoner,to ensure that only suitable eases are, treated The site for the ■ hospital. consists. ot three'acres of freehold ground.