NEW ZEALAND BIRTHS.

Hawera Star, Volume XLVII, 5 July 1928, Page 9

NEW ZEALAND BIRTHS.

MAJORITY IN HOSPITAL’S

OFFICIAL MEDICAL REPORTS

There are 387 private and maternity hospitals in the Dominion; of these seven are St. Helens- hospitals, 53 public maternity hospitals, 63 licensed private' medical and surgical hospitals, 48 licensed private medical, surgical, and maternity hospitals, and 216 private maternity hospitals. • According to official reports furnished to the Minister of Health (the ITon. J. A. Young) considerable improvements have been made during the past vein- in most of the maternity institutions with regard to equipment; and in the majority of cases the ibuildiijjgs, equipment, and conduct are such that a reasonable standard is maintained. A small number, it is reported, fall short of the desirable standard, and in most instances this had -been due to economic conditions which are gradually being overcome. Tt has -been found necessary to close one hospital,- and some others have closed voluntarily. The increase in the number of small public maternity hospitals established by hospital boards is .tending to improve the general standard of maternity work, as they are in many instances replacing- institutions which owing to lack of funds, are not maintained in such a way as to give satisfactory services. There is room for many more of these hospitals in New Zealand, and the gradual extension of hospital .board activities in maternity work will, in the opinion of those well qualified ,to judge, prove of great benefit. COST OF EQUIPMENT HALVED, The efforts of the Health Department to' make cheap and efficient equip, ment available for maternity hospitals, so that sterilising can be carried out completely, have, it- is asserted, been successful. The cost of this equipment has been about halved in a few years. The number of confinements in 1927 was 28,419; of these, 16,656 took place "in State, public, or licensed private hospitals, an increase of 255 over last year. The remaining 11,763 confinements. Were either in the patients’ homes or in onebed maternity Ironies, which, though not licensed, are kept under supervision by the nurse inspectors, and must be conducted by registered maternity nurses or midwives, ANTE NATAL CLINICS. The average number, of attendances of expectant, mothers at ante-natal clinics has been four. . This number of attendances, it is contended, is not sufficient to get the best results. A new edition of the pamphlet “.Suggestions to Expectant Mothers,” containing more detailed information, lias been published by the Maternal Welfare .Section of the Health Department, and will be available to all clinics and matern’al .welfare societies for distr'ibu. tion free of cost. It is hoped in this

way to gradually educate the expectant mother to take the steps so necessary for her own benefit. The general education of the expectant mother and of the public, in the judgment of medical authorities, can best be promoted through the formation of ante-natal clinics, and it is regretted that so few clinics have been started outside the four chief centres and the midwives’ training schools. It is suggested that the Plunket Society might do more of this class of work- The greatest safeguard to the baby 'is a healthy mother. A reduction in the number of still-births and in the deaths of infants in the first few weeks of life can be materially assisted by the widespread establishment- of ante-natal clinics. PUERPERAL FEVER; NiO OUTBREAK. It is noted that the maternal mortality rate per 1000 live births has increased from 4.25 in the previous year to 4.91 ,in the past year. The increased percentage of death’s to cases in 1927 oyer that of 1925-26 was 45.2i1, while the increase in the number of eases was only 14.92 of the average for the two previous years. The only gratifying feature is that there was an absence of any outbreak of puerperal fever in licensed maternity hospitals, showing that the regulations drawn up in 1924 with the view of preventing such epidemics have been successful in their object. The cases were sporadic. Consideration of these results shows that in spite of wliat has been done, more must yet be done before the best results can be achieved. The improved training of maternity nurses and midwives is slowly showing an improvement in the conditions governing asepsis in maternity work states the report. If sepsis is to be practically excluded, the patient herself must be made to recognise the importance of asepsis, and to take her medical man’s advice as to the selection of a. trained maternity nurse who understands asepsis and the necessity of the provision of a sterilised maternity outfit.