HEALTH MINISTER PRAISES N.Z. MATERNITY SERVICES

Greymouth Evening Star, 9 October 1948, Page 3

HEALTH MINISTER PRAISES N.Z. MATERNITY SERVICES

(P.A.) WELLINGTON, Oct. 8. No woman needed to worry about getting a maternity bed booking. If she could not get one she should place the onus on the local health officer, said the Minister of Health (Miss M. B. Howard) in the House of Representatives today, when replying to matters discussed during the debate on the estimates for the Department of Health. Mr E. B. Corbett (Opposition, Egmont) asked if steps were being taken to replace the Director of Maternal Welfare, and whether the standards that applied in private hospitals were being applied in public hospitals. Replying to points raised by members, Miss Howard said it was not yet possible to give a considered opinion on the report of the medical services committee. It was true that the cost of pharmaceutical benefits was rising, but it was largely because a number of expensive drugs had been admitted to the free list. If such drugs helped people to regain their health the drugs should be available to invalids.

After the last session she went up and down the country visiting hospitals and meeting women’s organisations, and she did not find any serious anxiety about maternity welfare, said Miss Howard. No safeguards were being relaxed, and. everyone knew that maternity services in New Zealand were never better than they were today. At the same time, there was a need for eternal vigilance in regard to all hospitals.