TAURANGA HOSPITAL.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIV, Issue 19719, 19 August 1927, Page 8

TAURANGA HOSPITAL.

AFFAIRS OF THE BOARD. QUESTION OF UNPAID FEES. [BY TELEGRAPH. —OWN CORRESPONDENT.] / TAURANGA, Thursday. A meeting of the Tauranga Hospital Board was held yesterday. Mr. T. Lockhead presided. The secretary reported that he had submitted an application to the Local Government Loans Board with regard to the loan proposals. The medical superintendent, Dr. J. B. Macdiarmid, reported that the daily average number,- of patients in the Tauranga Hospital in July was 33. He further reported that the bid maternity hospital, at Te Puke was unsuitable for conversion into ajiome for old people, and he suggested that the Nurses' Home at Tauranga should be coiiverted into an Old People's Home and that a new nurses' home be erected. The board appointed a committee of five members to investigate hospital affairs generally and to submit a report to the board. The secretary of the Hospital Boards' Association forwarded a circular with regard tn hospital fees and industrial accident rases. At the last conference of Hospital Boards it was decided that the Governnifnt be urged to provide legislation to entitle Hospital Boards to have a prior claim for the full amount of hospital fees incurred by single men, and also by married men without dependants, who are entitled to compensation for accidents. The recent representations made to the Government ask for legislative provision that will protect the public hospitals against patients of a certain class who are enabled to evade payment of accounts for maintenance at a public hospital, although they may lie in receipt of moneys virtually intended for that purpose. The board decided to communicate with the Minister of Health, Hon. J. A. Young, on the lities set out in the above resolution, and also that Mr. 0. E. Macmillan, M.P.. Mr. F. E. Hockly, M.P., and Mr. A. M. Samuel. M.P., be asked to support the representations. It was decided not to hold a hospital ball this year, but that a ball should be held next year, on or about the evening of Hospital Day in May. The secretary of the Hospital Boards' Association forwarded a circular dealing with the .treatment of tuberculosis in New Zealand. It was decided that the medical officers of the board be asked to give their opinion on the subject.