HOSPITAL CHARGES.

Manawatu Times, Volume XLIII, Issue 1585, 10 June 1920, Page 5

HOSPITAL CHARGES.

(To the Editor.)

Sir, —I would be glad if you could let me know what the policy of the Hospital Board is in regard to payment of patients’ fees. I was always under the impression that treatment was free to those who were not in a position to pay. Therefore, as a working man. with a family of several small children, I think it grossly unfair that I am apparently singled out with demands and threats of Court proceedings through the Board’s solicitor. The fact that a man dependent on wages, bringing up a family nowadays, should in itself be sufficient grounds for exemption, without a “Spanish Inquisition” as to who your great grandmother was. And mark you, Mr Editor, my objection to that is' not, that it may be shown how much money I have; but rather, that it should have to. be published abroad how really hard pushed I am in these expensive times. Of course, one can hardly blame the secretary of the hospital altogether,, as I suppose he has to look after his job; at the same time if the Hospital Board are dependent for their income on the muchneeded wages of the working man with a family, then it is time there was a change in the whole administration. In the case of the single, without dependents, its quite another matter, and they should pay. They have no racking of brains to make provision for accouchements from time to time. No. restless nights with the different ills that infants’ flesh is heir to; no doctor’s or dentist’s expenses, except for themselves; no house or accommodation hunting, with the invariable “ Sorry, but we couldn’t take children.” No —but there, one could go on Indefinitely, pointing out the ample worries of the family man and woman, without the added burden of hospital bills. —I am, etc., PARENT.