COMING AT LAST. NEW FEVER HOSPITAL.

Evening Post, Volume LXXV, Issue 89, 14 April 1908, Page 7

COMING AT LAST. NEW FEVER HOSPITAL.

DEVELOPMENTS IMMINENT. For several years the need of a net*, fever hospital for \Velling£pn,hns'l'b^e.a' urgently felt, but tho lack of a suitable } site has Jjlockod building projects 'which '■ havo been put forward from time to time. Last year the trustees fought manfully for a portion of tho Mount' Cook reserve, bnt the Ministry clung to tho ground, and ever since that battle a sort of armed trnce has prevailed. *Nott, however, tho hospital authorities ihavo renewed th© campaign,; tynd jfc •sepms likely (hat the Government xy*HL jrield somo of the territory for which. ' -Qic requests havo been so earnest and ►persistent. ' •' "A LONG FELT WANT." • "For three or four years," said iha *" Hon. C. M. Luke, chairman of tho hos- , nital trustees, to-day, "wo havo needed better accommodation for lever 'cases to enable us to classify them and , separate them, -and we have reqntradt a. convalescent ward —so that the paiienti might go direct from there to their homes; at present they go straight from , tho foyer ward. "It is some years ago now sinco the , trustees, and the medical officer, with • ( the honorary staf[, considered tho whdla question and iiibpettcd several site* , around "the city, but they found nothing ' , which would meet the"requirements"feo s well as a section at tho rear of tho fttount View Hospital for Mental Djsefkst • es. This was put teforo the present Government and the Jate' Dr. •Mafcgregor on one or two occasions,, tyib ■the matter has been deferred from tjmo , to time Until now tho pressure in pur ;■ hospital has become very acute owing to tho enlarged powers possessed by ths Health Department, enabling it to sand to the hospital all classes of fever cases, including measles,, scarlet fever, diph. , theria, and -sol on. A VISIT BY MINISTERS YESTERDAY.. N The trustees, continued Mr. Lukej were perplexed about ways and means of answering the requirements, and put their «case very fujly -before the Government somo time ago, and the Government had boen considering the question • of ; the Mount View site. Yestorday the . Hon. W. Hall-Jones, the Hon. J. A., : Millar, tbe Hon.C. M. Luke, the'tnwtees' treasurer (Mr. Banks), Dr Ewart 1 (supeiintehdent), and the Hon. Dr. CoU., lius visited the locality mentioned. "We are hoping now that the difficulty will be £olvod shortly," commented Mr. . Luke, "and as soon as thjs is done tfca ' trustees will tako into consideration » • building scheme to enable them to put , r up v modern fever hospital, pa Uie indicated by Dr. -Ewart and pka hanor- '. ary staff, and to provjdp suitable quarters for the nursing staff in this department,. Hitherto the nurses hwre peeij, ' quarantined for something fake ijw> months, and they have been obliged to sleep in close proximity to the fever cases. We hope, under the new arrangements, to minimise the risk of infection and to better copo with the large number of cases that are always pressing %o come in.' At present a very large pr.oportioh of the fever ca*es have fc) b» treated in the houses of the people!' GENEROUS OFFERS. "We have two or three generous offer* , from prominent citizens who are prepar1 ed to help," he concluded. 'In onje instance it is the offer of a special institution for the treatment of' cancer, bwt •• for lack of a suitable -site to have bee* upable to deal with this matter till the difficulty about ground was ovepconie. We believe that there are many -of"our wealthy citizons who would come to the assistance of the trustees in providing for a fever hospital, together with-pj.her pi-essing needs, involving considerable expense." Discussing private benefactions genw* ally, tho chairman mentioned that ooni tributions given to the trustees, wttfeotijb • any conditions attached, svouil" carry with them a substantial 'subsiqy .from the Government. v • ..... ' . , •