HIGH COST OF ILLNESS.

Hawera Star, Volume XLVIII, 18 July 1924, Page 3

HIGH COST OF ILLNESS.

COMMUNITY HOSPITALS. MOVEMENTMN' SYDNEY. . SYDNEY, July 3. ihe fact that the fees charged by private hospitals are in many cases quite beyond the means of numbers of persons who are pnxious for the comfort and privacy of such institutions, is mainly responsible for a movement m the northern suburbs of Sydney known generally a s the North Shore! tor the establishment of a community hospital. The idea, of course, is to provide for those who, not desirous of going into a public hospital, are yet unable to pay the high fees charged generally by private hospitals—in short, the middle-class. With an endownment or two and a Government grant, it is believed that a community hospital could easily bo made self-sup-porting, with a few business heads at the back of it. As illustrating the need for . s ucb an institution, instances have been given of rates charged by some private hospitals. In a case where the operation was simply an exploratory one, ten guineas was charged merely for the use of the operating room. Then there F the case quoted of a patient, who was charged for three bottles of brandv. when actually only three nips bad been consumed. At an enthusiastic meeting at vhieh the movement was launcher],' charges of six, seven and eight ginueas a week for ordinary nursing were condemned as unjust! Medical - men as r.-ell as clergymen and other represent, ative citizens are throwing their weight into the movement. What with the high cost of living, the high cost of lining ill, and the high cost of dyin ,r people are really in a hit of a quandary just now.