AUSTRALIAN HOSPITALS

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXII, Issue 22173, 29 July 1935, Page 6

AUSTRALIAN HOSPITALS

VIGOROUS PROGRAMME NEW SOUTH WALES OUTLAY The New South Wales Government, in its loan es.timat.cs to be submitted to Parliament in September, will provide for a vigorous .hospital programme. It is estimated that the expenditure for the financial year 1935-36 will be about £250,000, the same as for 1934-35. An aerial ambulance for the western districts and an extension of dental clinics are included in the programme. A railway travelling dental clinic, the first of its kind in Australia, is proposed. An ambitious scheme to expend the Prince Henry Hospital, formerly known as the Coast Hospital, has been adopted by the Government. It is aimed at making the hospital one of the largest and best-equipped in the State. The nursing and medical staffs are to bo greatly increased In a scheme of five years' development nearly £500,000 Will be spent on new buildings and equipment. The older buildings will be replaced by new blocks, and it is believed that when completed the institution will be the most important hospital unit in Australia. With a view to decentralizing services, the 'Hospitals Commisf.ion has adopted a system of base hospitals at suitable centres in country districts. Uase hospitals are already established at four centres. At the base hospitals, pathological units will be provided and staffed for the ready diagnosis and treatment of disease. The Government will also build maternity wards furnished with the most modern equipment. Separate units at general hospitals arp to be provided for children. Clinics for investigating infants' and children's diseases will be considered whore necesBaiy. The Government is at present equipping a clinic for paralysed children. t