TUBERCULOSIS

Evening Post, Volume CV, Issue 119, 22 May 1928, Page 11

TUBERCULOSIS

COMMITTEE OF INQUIRY ORDER OF REFERENCE Tho order of reference of the Medical Committee appointed by tho Minister of Health (Hon. J. A. Young) to inquire into tho prevention and .treatment of pulmonary tuberculosis is as follows:— To inquire into and report upon the past and present incidence of pulmonary tuberculosis in New Zealand. The measures now taken in New Zealand for the prevention and treatment of pulmonary tuberculosis. Whether the bods available in sanatoria, hospitals, and other institutions for the reception of cases of pulmonary tuberculosis aro adequate as regards number and distribution. Whether tho sanatoria, hospitals, and other institutions are being used to the best advantage. What additional institutions, if any, are required, or. what extensions, if any, are necessary to existing institutions. ■ Whether the action taken against pulmonary tuberculosis, other than the provision of institutional beds, is sufficient, considering the incidence of the i disease, the sizo and distribution of the population of the Dominion, tho financial condition of the country, and tho .public funds available for general health purposes. • , What other means, if any, are considered necessary to combat tho disease, cither as regards, action by hospital boards, voluntary agencies, or the Department 'if Health. Whether there exists at tho present time sufficient co-ordination of all tho agencies dealing with pulmonary tuberculosis. If not, what measures are suggested. ■ MINISTERIAL STATEMENT. In a statement issued by the Minister of Health he said it was his desire that the committee should investigate fully the sufficiency and adequacy of the accommodation provided for the care and treatment of consumptive patients in the Dominion, especially in view of the fact that large and increasing demands were being made on the Government for financial'assistance.by hospital boards and those publicly responsible for *he care-and treatment of sufferers. The burden of capital expenditure, by hospital boards had become a matter of criticism among the contributing local bodies, particularly as they wore liable- for half the funds. Mr. Young added that members of the committee would be appointed temporary officers of the Department with a view to assuring to them an unquestioned right to enter any -public hospital or sanatorium in tho Dominion where consumptives were under treatment. The fact that they were temporary officers of the Department would not in any way place the members under departmental control. It was being done merely as a matter of convenience to aid them in their investigations. ;They would be entrusted with all the powers of a Royal Commission,-with a right to call for persons and papers and take such evidence- as they may think fit, even to the extent of examining members of staffs, patients, or such other persons as may be deemed necessary, with, a view to enabling the committee to report on the methods and treatment adopted in New Zealand. _ "The object of the Government in setting up the committee," said Mr. Young, "is to ensure-that .the best'possible service may be rendered in our effort to combat tho dread disease and assist'those who are suffering from con-1 sumption. The move was promoted with, the object of doing the right thing by the community in the matter of providing treatment for those suffering from consumption and not, as is suggested in some quarters, a device to justify the Department in its efforts to keep down expenditure by hospital boards."