Retention Of Outside Fees By Hospital M.o.s

Northern Advocate, 14 June 1949, Page 2

Retention Of Outside Fees By Hospital M.o.s

Medical officers on a hospital staff should be permitted to retain fees earned by outside services, considered the Whangarei Hospital Bogrd, which met yesterday. It was agreeing with a letter from the Nelson Hospital Board which had been received by the Hospital Boards’ Association and sent out to all boards as a circular. “For some years this board has been allowing its medical officers to retain, for their own use. certain fees and no account has been taken of this in assessing the salary due to them,” the letter stated. A list of such fees was shown in the letter. It included those for emeraency work for outside practitioners, court and post mortem fees, and certification fees for mental cases MINISTER OPPOSED The consent of the Minister was reat’ired for this practice and was sought, the letter continued. However, the Director-General had informed the board that. the Minister was not prepared to approve of the continuance of the practice and 'the ‘ops should be received by the board. “This board does not agree with this view as it is considered these fees (about £3O a year) are legitimate equisites and involve the officer concerned in additional work.” the Nelson board stated. It desired that the opinion of other boards be sought. If a majority was in favour of the fees being retained the association should endeavour to have the Minister’s decision reversed. helpful “This board should support the contention of the Nelson Board.” said the chairman (Mr J. A. S. MacKay) when the letter had been read. “These small fees are helpful to the officers of this board and the Joint Specialist Committee.’* Mrs D. F. Armstrong agreed with the chairman, saying that the small fees were not much for the work the officers were called upon to do. On the chairman’s motion is was decided to inform the association that the board supported the view of the Nelson Hospital Board.

A tigress deeply gashed a shoulder of a Wellington Zoo attendant when he slipped while walking between cages containing two lions and the tigress. His arm rested momentarily on the tigress' cage, and in a flash she seized it in her Claws. The man drew away- immediately, blit not before he had suffered Six gashes. "The big cats are always alert; the tigress was only obeying her normal impulse,” said the curator of the zoo (Mr C. J Cutler). “The path on which the man slipped is closed to the public and is not often used." The cage near the path had now been coveted with netting.