AUCKLAND HOSPITAL.

New Zealand Herald, Volume L, Issue 15331, 18 June 1913, Page 11

AUCKLAND HOSPITAL.

ACCOMMODATION PROBLEM. f - NEW SURGICAL WARD NEEDED THE CONSUMPTIVE SANATORIUM. ' Matters dealing with the Auckland Hospital and the proposal to erect a consumptive" sanatorium at Tamaki were brought up by Mr. J. M. Mennie, chairman of the • 'Auckland Hospital and Charitable Aid Board, at lafct night's meeting of the board. '

'Mr. Mennie said he had found that the hospital had been run very well under the direction of Dr. Maguire. Sometimes they had not a requisite number of beds to accommodate all the patients who desired admission to tho institution. That state

of affaire should not occur in a city like

Auckland. At tho present time there were "10 or 12 names on the books of persons '. who wanted admission. The pressure was felt most in the surgical ward, and endeavours ought to be made to build a surgical ward. Probably the board's properties

would now be worth about £250,000. The

properties were mostly mortgaged to the extent of about £70.000. . Ho did not.see why it should not be possible to obtain a sum of £30.000 for the purpose of carrying on the board's operations. • A new wing for the surgical ward might be built, and the patients who were in the present old wooden building could be removed to tho new wing, and then the wooden structure could be removed to Point Chevalier. Dr. Valintine. Inspector-General of Hospitals, had expressed himself as delighted with the grounds at Point Chevalier, and he thought Air. Mennic's idea a good one. One wing of the Point Chevalier building might be reserved for plague casesalthough ho did not think that such case* would occur again in Auckland, owing to the progress of the drainage operations ■ and the other part of the, building might be occupied by convalescent males. That •would relieve the pressure on the beds at the hospital very much. • In reference to the suggested Tamaki institution Mr. Mennie moved : " That the . proposal to build a sanatorium on the Tamaki site, for patients suffering from tuberculosis be deferred for the present, inasmuch as the site is an unsuitable one; it is also inaccessible, and such an institution, if established there, could only bo carried on at a ruinous edit, out of all pro- ,• portion to the benefits to be derived from its erection." 0 Mr. Mennie stated that he bad gone into figures in respect to the Tamaki proposal, and he had found that the expenses could not be reckoned at under £10,000. If that sum were capitalised at 5 per cent, a considerable amount for interest would have to be provided. A big staff would be needed, and a probable cost of £3 or £4 per bed would be incurred weekly. '■•,...'. Mr. M. J. Coyle : We don't propose to go in for so large an expenditure. Mr. Mennie : Well, it will cost, you that. It was decided that the board should discuss the motion at a meeting to be held in a fortnight's time.