MATERNITY BENEFITS

Evening Post, Volume CXXVII, Issue 132, 7 June 1939, Page 12

MATERNITY BENEFITS

AUCKLAND APPLICATIONS

(By ' Telegraph—Press Assnciation.l

AUCKLAND, June 6.

Applications are being received daily by the Department of Health in Auckland for maternity benefits under the Social Security Act.

Already, in the three weeks the benefits have been operating, at least 20 applications have been passed for payment, and others are being considered.

The maximum payment obtainable at present by registered or unregistered maternity hospitals is £11. In addition a doctor's fee of £5 is being paid where the doctor attending to the patient has contracted with the Government under the scheme.

A few of the applications received have been made for patients in country districts included in the Auckland Health District. The majority of applications, however, have come from city and suburban hospitals. This i 3 explained by the numerical superiority of the city and suburbs over the country districts. ■ . There are now only three private maternity hospitals in Auckland central or city and suburban district which are not providing services under the Act. A number of these are accepting maternity service payments only in partial settlement for services rendered, patients still having to meet the difference between the State payment and the hospital's usual charge. The number of obstetric nurses who have signed contracts was given as 47. It was stated that a number were still outstanding, though it was not known whether all these were actively practising. ____^^_____«.