HOSPITAL CONSTRUCTION.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LII, Issue 16010, 31 August 1915, Page 5

HOSPITAL CONSTRUCTION.

SUCCESSFUL EXPERIMENT

i " A iiEvou~TioN- in connection with the ( construction of hospitals is one thing likely to result from the war," predicted the Hon. G. W. Russell, Minister for Public Health, yesterday, when addressing the members of the Auckland Hospital Board. He said that when the hospital accommodation at Home began to be overtaxed a large new institution was built at Cambridge consisting of a series of small shelter sheds. A wall was constructed only on one side of v thes-?, leaving the buildings open to the fresh ;

air and sunshine. It was a huge experiment, but had turned out to be such a success that, in future, hospitals would ho built on the same lines. Up to the last date as to which he had seen the returns 10,994 wounded troops had been placed in the Cambridge institution, of whom only 85 had died, the average death-rate being .7. This success of the' experiment was creating a sensation ct Home. Therefore, in New Zealand, where extra hospital accommodation was needed the Government would give no subsidies for permanent buildings, but I only for such buildings as he had described. The Christchurch Hospital Board had offered 100 beds for invalided I soldiers and was prepared' to erect struc- j tures such as the ones at Cambridge England, at a cost of not more than £14 per bed. Mr. Russell advocated similar action on"' the part of all boards requiring additional accommodation-