ACCOUNTS NOT PAID.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXV, Issue 19947, 16 May 1928, Page 14

ACCOUNTS NOT PAID.

HOSPITAL PATIENTS' FEES. LARGE AMOUNT INVOLVED PAYMENT FROM GERMANY.

"One has only to attend these meetings, analyse the cases and cross-examine some of the debtors to fully realise the extent of poverty in the city, due mainly to unemployment." This paragraph was contained in a" report furnished by the fees' committee to the Auckland Hospital Board yesterday. Tho report stated single men again predominated among the debtors, many of them having their parents dependent on them and being unablo to meet their debts. Hundreds of letters were sent to the board expressing regret at inability to settle accounts, the causes generally being unemployment and sickness. A summary of the fees collected during the past year, compared with the previous year, showed that last year there was an increase in the collection from inpatients of £1709. Fees*from in-patients amounting to £46,038 were written off. last year, compared with £28,365 during the previous year. A number of accounts ranging from £IOO to £llBB are included in these figures. 'the largest accounts are in respect of two patients, who have been bed-ridden for a number of years. One patient owes £llBB and tho other £SOO. In none of these cases was it possible to collect a penny.

The fees' committee lias some unusual experiences. The report stated a foreigner, who was 15 days in the hospital in October last, paid £3 in reduction of his account of £7 4s 6d. He was not heard of again, but last week a draft for the balance was received direct from him and issued through a bank in Germany.