PUBLIC HEALTH MATTERS.

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume LIII, Issue 9435, 6 September 1907, Page 5

PUBLIC HEALTH MATTERS.

MEDICAL CARE OF THE MAORIS. I'PRESS ASSOCIATION.] WELLINGTON, September 5. Speaking during consideration of the Estimates on the Public Health Department this afternoon, Mr Massey said he had heard that the Waikato Sanatorium was not in a suitable position, and that it was subjected to westerly winds, which were not conducive to the health of patients. Mr Fowlds replied that as far as the location of the place was concerned, he thought it was generally approved by medical men. Mr Hornsby asked if provision was made on the Estimates whereby indigent patients could be admitted to the sanatoria of tbe colony. Married men had been unable to get admittance to sanatoria because they could not pay a fee of two guineas per week. He urged that it would be better to place these people in sanatoria where they could be cured and enabled to perform their duties again. Mr Fowlds said hospitals were doing a deal in the direction suggested by Mr Hornsby, but if a patient from, say, Masterton, was sent to a sanatorium then it was expected that the district from which the patient was sent should pay the cost of treatment. He urged that consumptive annexes should be costructed in connection with all hospitals in the colony. Mr Symes said it was as hard to get country patients into Cambridge Sanatorium as to get them into heaven. Mr Herries asked why it was the Department did nothing, for the natives that the native medical officers recommended. In connection with this he drew attention to the Estimates, which showed that though £2700 was voted last year to the administration of the native medical and health service, only £695 had been expended. If they suppressed tohungas they must give more assistance to Dr Pomare to look after the natives, as well as white people occasionally in the back blocks. • Mr James Allen said that though natives were now ready to go to the hospitals, there was difficulty in getting them admitted. Referring to Dr Pomare' s report urging that homes should be established for aged Maoris, he said the Minister should make a definite statement as to whether he agreed with the medical officer's report. Mr Major said if the health of the Maoris was not better looked after the race would become extinct. He stated that there was no medical man from New Plymouth to Patea who was subsidised to look after the natives. Mr Ell, referring to the indigent poor in the larger cities, said there were a number of lady nurses who went about attending the poor, and he urged that these should be subsidised on a pound for pound basis. Mr Malcolm urged that a system of cottage hospitals should be established to meet the requirements of the country districts. He thought the time had arrived when medical inspection should be provided free by the Government. We had veterinarians going about the country inspecting stock, and he thought if medical inspection was free for human beings many sufferers would be saved years of suffering. M'- Massey considered Dr Pomare a thoroughly sincere man, and regretted that no notice was taken of his recommendations. He hoped some businesslike arrangements would be made by the Health Department to allow of Maori girls being trained as hospital nurses. Mr A. L. D. Fraser said it was impossible for Dr Pomare and his assistants to attend thoroughly to the thousands of Maoris of the two islands. As to Dr Pomare, he ridiculed his idea that the individualisation of the native lands was a panacea for all the ills of the Maoris. Mr Fowlds said he would look into the question of subsidising district nursing. Referring to Mr James Allen's question, he said no proposition had been made to him by Dr Pomare or to the Department to establish old men's homes. He said he had given hospital boards to understand that as far as Maoris were concerned they were on the same footing as Europeans, and if it was satisfactorily proved to him that differentiation had taken place he should take steps to withhold the subsidy until the board realised its sense of duty. A difficulty arose in obtaining Maroi girls sufficiently advanced and equipped to train as nurses. He added there were five Maori girls being trained.