HOSPITAL CONTROL

Dominion, Volume 14, Issue 182, 28 April 1921, Page 6

HOSPITAL CONTROL

NATIONALISATION URGED.

Bv Telegraph—Press Association. Dunedin, April 27. Tho Hospitals Commission resumed ita sittings this morning. ■Rodo-wa Evidence was given by R. A- Bodgere (Tuapoka County), who thought that tho present system of levies and subsidies providing for maintenance was inequitable. Levies were made on wealth as disclosed- in the valuation roll, when a ratepayer might only be a tenant and. only nominally an owner. Wealth could not be fairly estimated from the valuation -rolls, and the only way to attack the real owner of wealth was through the channels of the land.^d jncome tax He thought boards with base hospitals should -receive greater cons ” tion in subsidies than boards who depended on the special departments_in base hospitals in another district. The most equitable solution of the whole question of hospital administration was the nationalisation of the Public Health Department m all its branches He did not think nationalisation would affect the administration, and was satisfied that there would be no trouble in getting qualified and- eM> c £- enced men and women, who would be too willing to continue the work 3 frefly and well He favoured a svstem of differential rating for contributing local bodies, so that they would be levied pro rata according b John 3 Howat, secretary of the Tapanui Farmers’ Union, forwarded a statement in which he characterised as unfair a system that compelled contributing local bodies to provide for capital expenditure out of levies made in the J* 8 * expenditure was incurred. The. Otago Medical School was a national institution, and quite unfairly its e<l ul Pment and upkeep had been borne by Otago ratepayers. Respecting accommodation for consumptives, this should be provided bv the State. _, . Edward Laley, a member of the ( Waikouaiti County Council, _ thought the Government should administer the hospitals. in the same way as is done with mental hospitals. He thought each local body should have charge of charitable aid administration within its own bounFalconer, medical superintendent of Dunedin Hospital, advocated a direct Government subsidy for the four main hospitals, so that they would be adequately administered. Asked whaT he thought of the proposal to establish paying or private wards in public hospitals, the witness said he thought that system had to come, but so far as Dunedin was concerned it would te difficult to apportion space for the erection of such wards. They had a scheme providing for about 500 beds, but no -provision was made in the plan for any private wards. In reply to Mr. Tnggs, witness said he was still firmly of the opinion that qualified dietitians should be appointed at hospitals. Hospitals dietitians could lie trained at the Domestic Science School. Dr. L. E. Barnett, co-optative member of the Hospital Committee of the Otago Hospital Board, emphasised the importance of tho Medical School to tho Dominion as a whole. There were now 359 or more students at the school, nnd in their third, fourth, and fifth years clinical study at tho hospital was essenThe Commission adjourned till to-mor-row.