SICK SOLDIERS

Dominion, Volume 9, Issue 2744, 12 April 1916, Page 6

SICK SOLDIERS

THE PROVISION-MADE FOR THEM

"In future, every man who has been a- soldier and has been discharged, will, in the event of sickness supervening arising out of his service in the Forces, no matter what form that sickness may take, whether it bo tho breaking out of a wound that was supposed to have healed, or any other form of illness, be entitled, on application to tho Publio Health Department, to receivo curative treatment in exactly the same way as if ho,was still a soldier," said the Minister of Public Health (Hdn. G. W. Eus«ell) to a roporter yesterday morning. , "This matter," he,went on to say, "wiR be administered by tho officers of the Public Health .Department throughout the Dominion, and any ox-soldier forwarding particulars of his case to the Health Officer or to the Public Health Department will at once bo examined by tho.medical officer of tho district who acts for the Department, and, on his certificate, will bo taken into hospital and dealt with.

"I propose to require at the hands of every man entering a hospital or convalescent home a written understanding that ho will subject himself to discipline in exnetly the same way as if be woro a soldier still in the forces, and unless that document is sighed curative treatment ' will not bo. available for him."

The Minister, went on to point out .that at Rotorua the Sanatorium and the. King George Hospital were easily capable of accommodating 400 men. Hanmor, which was now practically completed, could take 250 men. The Taumaru Hospital (which was the name that had been solected by Sir Francis ,Bell for the convalescent home which lie had given at Lowry Bay) would accommodate between 50 and 60. It would therefore be seen that full provision was made by the Department for the carrying out of the new scheme. "In fact," said the Minister, "when the rush takes place at the end of the wnr, with the civilian hospitals, at our command, and the convalescent liomes that have been established, the Public Health Department can see its_ way to handle, without any inconvenience, , a body of 2000 sick and wounded soldiers at one time." '"