THE WAIHI HOSPITAL

Hauraki Plains Gazette, Volume XXXII, Issue 4320, 21 September 1921, Page 2

THE WAIHI HOSPITAL

AMALGAMATION WITH THAMES. VIEWS OF THE CHAIRMAN. REPLY TO CRITICISM. The chairman of the Waihi Hospital Board (Mr D. Donaldson), when seen by a “Telegraph” representative wi.th regard to the report of the Thames Hospital Board, which appeared in Friday’s issue of the ’'Gazette,” said he thought it more than passing strange that there- should be such an outburst of indignation against the proposed inclusion of the Waihi Hospital in the Thames Hospital District.

Mr Donaldson went on to say that as more than one-third of the patients treated in fhe W.aihi hospital were ratepayers of the Thames hospital district, and that ,the treatment of these patiepts at Waihi since the inauguration of the institution must have saved the Thames Board thousands of pounds, he was quite unable to appreciate-the attitude now taken by some of its members*.. He afso referred to the fact that in years gone by, when the Waihi Board sought to enlarge the hospital district, it encountered the strongest opposition from neighbouring Hospital Boards and from the Public Health Department.

The local beard considered without asking favours from any other hospital district, that it would be fairly entitled to have included within its area the whole country that the Waihi Hospital) served. If by reason of the high reputation which the Waihi Hospital enjoyed patients were attracted from as far away as Neiherton, Paeroa, and Katikati, he would have the privilege of being able to choose between Waihi and Thames. The system operating between the Waihi and Thames Hospital Boards relating to patients’ fees provided that every patient who entered the Waihi Hospital was expected to pay £2 2s per week, irrespective of locality, that was to say, whether the patient resided within or without the borough area. Should the patient making a fortune at £he expense at be found unable "to pay the Waihi Board debited the. Thames at the rate of 14s per week. As the cost of maintaining a patient was somewhere in the vicinity of £3 per week, it would be obvious to the most casual reader that the Waihi Board was not come from the Thames district. and its neighbour at Thames. . ~ Concluding, the chairman said that the attitude of the Waihi Board towards the recommendation of the Hospitals Commission was simply that so long as it is possible for the revenue of the borough to support the hospital there would be no desire-on the part of the board to seek voluntary inclusion in the Thames district. If, however, reduced income owing to diminishing mining returns made it impossible for the town *o carry the burden, .then the only flair and proper thing to do would be to make the Waihi Hospital a charge upon the whole district ft served. This would mean either the enlargement of the piesent Waihi Hospital District, or joining in with Thames.