Greymouth Evening Star. AND BRUNNERTON ADVOCATE. THURSDAY, OCTOBER 8th, 1908. CONSUMPTION.

Greymouth Evening Star, 8 October 1908, Page 2

Greymouth Evening Star. AND BRUNNERTON ADVOCATE. THURSDAY, OCTOBER Bth, 1908. CONSUMPTION.

At the present time, especially in Britain anil America, scientists ax*j» engaged in endeavoring to discover the must-efficient methods of lighting that / fell disease, consumption, which in t Great Britain alone is responsible for nearly 40,000 deaths every year. In , this dominion, the Public Health He- . partment has been most active in its j campaign, : not only rendering every - possible aid, but also distributing , leaflets whereby it is hoped to | educate the people to the necessity for ; combatting Abe disease immediately on its presence being first noticeable. In this connection, a considerable per- I tion of the annual report of the Chief 1 Health Officer (Hr. Mason) deals with consumption, a subject in regard to which Hr. Mason lias for years past shown the greatest interest. In opening he,makes some brief observations, which cannot but excite the interest and sympathy of all who are concerned in the subject. J horc is, he says, "one feature of the campaign] which deserves the earnest attention of Jill who have the interests of the patients at heart, not less than the safeguarding of the general public. For long the warning issued as to the infectious nature of consumption went unheeded, but there came a time when they were hearkened to and then followed, an unreasoning fear and consequent isolation, with occasional injustice to the poor sufferers.” Hr. Mason quotes a case of extreme hardship where an incurable consumptive, could not get shelter and he died from exposure. “Collectively,” h“ goes on to’say, “we have great symparthy fqr the poor soul stricken with this disease, but individually we occasion him! lunch unnecessary hardship Hay afteir day, I have seen mm and women, tvh'o have passed through one or other 'of our sanatoria and are now fairly welh' eager and anxious to under- j take some,',work, and yet liar anyone will j give them a chance. It is a blot upo)i ’ our alleged altruism that such trefitment could he meted out t° any one;as was offered to poor “A,” tlit perejm fa tor red to abOr«. “I whik to proclaim aa forcibly aa I can,'* go*- ; tinues Hr Mason, “that the man who has spedtVa few months in a well ordered sanatorium is a safer neighbour, even though he is still ill, than the suffered]who has had no institutional i instruction, though, maybe, he seems well. , of the system, care of the person, aid all that proper ; living really spells has been so dinned ’ into them at the sanatorium that it is next To; impossible to behave in such . a way tq endanger the health of others. Hr. Mason goes on to speak in detail of the steps taken to provide work for ' the cured. “Unless,” he says, “we * are to lose the money spent in bringing them hack to a. condition of •health,’ 'the municipalities, hospital hoards lor the Government must find them sijunc kind of employment at once suitahlj) to their condition of health and of;a nature, which will he profitable, pot only to the ‘cured,’ hut to the provider of the work.” This, he thinks, will he accomplished through the camp of which the Minister has approved and which appears to be an eminently desirable scheme. “On the flat near Waipa,” ho says, “has been .begun an experiment which I am sure will be as successful as it was longed! for.” On this camp tree planting operations are being carried out. i i Twelve ex-patients from the Waikato have been sent down there and Hr. Mason expresses himself as confident that the camp will succeed. On the general question, Hr. Mason goes ton to say, that considered in its lowest aspect, he is certain that all the money expended will bring in a good return in increased safety to the healthy. The value of a sanatorium or an annexe cannot he assessed by setting.out the number of cures. From the hjiture of the disease, it is impossible to hope that a great number of Mures ; cam be expected. Not until the patient is suffering from the disease in a well marked form does he take alarm .and seek advice. That many suffer from the disease, and yet recover compfbfely is admitted by hcarly'all who hfiyfe 1 carefully studied this disease. On_ trig whole) the report indicates that the • Department is endeavoring, in ; a comprehensive manner, to stain : .out,,,-or lessen the spread of the-insidious disease in this dominion. In (Connection with the subject, reference is also made to it by Mr Micldlet 6h in his report on the public health requirements of the "West Coast. There is one aspect of the question, however, that has been entirely overlooked, and that iif in regard to the urgent necessity that exists for the erection of a consumption annexe to the Greymouth Hospital. At the present time, not one hospital on the West Coast makes provision for consumptive patients, with] the result that they have either to bo declined admission, or, as is the case in Greymouth, accommodated in tents erected in the hospital grounds. But even then the demand cannot be fully met. The cost of erecting a consumptive annex to the Greymouth Hospital would ho immaterial as compared with tiie enormous benefits that would result from such a stop being taken. The Hospital Trustees would be acting very wisely if they gave this matter some consideration, with a view to the suggestion contained in the above being carried out.