EPIDEMICS

Dominion, Volume 19, Issue 208, 29 May 1926, Page 8

EPIDEMICS

PROVISION OF HELP “GOVERNMENT WILL DO THE FAIR THING” The question of provision for help in the event of epidemic outbreaks of infectious disease was referred to at this week’s meeting of the Board of Health. At the request of the Minister, Dr. M. H. Watt, Deputy Director-General of Health, made a statement to the board regarding certain infectious diseases which had been receiving prominence in the newspapers recently, viz., smallpox, influenza, and typhoid fever. Dr. Watt stated that the epidemic of typhoid fever in Hawke’s Bay district had now practically subsided. Sir Janies Wilson asked that the Department should undertake to assist hospital boards financially in the event of there being an outbreak of serious influenza. The Minister of Health (Hon. J. A. Young) stated that while he could not give any definite promise in the matter, they could rest assured that in the event of any grave national emergency arising, such as a widespread epidemic, the Government would do the fair thing by the hospital boards. Sir Lindo Ferguson suggested that hospital boards should be allowed to include in their estimates an amount over and above their capital requirements as a reserve fund for meeting epidemic purposes. The Minister stated that it would be impossible for the Government to agree to a proposal of that kind.