NATIVES' HEALTH

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXIII, Issue 22523, 14 September 1936, Page 11

NATIVES' HEALTH

IMPROVEMENT WOKK CO-OPERATION IN WAIKATO CLINIC AT NCARUAWAHIA PA [by TELEGRAPH OWN correspondent] NGARUAWAHIA, Sunday In an efl'ort to improve the health of the Maori people, the leaders at the Ngaruawahia pa are co-operating with Dr. H. B. Turbott, district health officer at Hamilton. Princess Te Puea Herangi has promised to do everything in her power to assist Dr. Turbott's schemes, and practical measures have already been taken at the pa. A pre-natal and post-natal clinic has been established, and is believed to be the first of its kind among the Maori people in New Zealand. It was instituted as from last Monday, and two Health Department nurses will visit the pa every Monday afternoon. On the first day about GO Maori women attended the clinic, and the fact alone that the number was so large was considered to be sufficient justification for the establishment of such a clinic. Another practical suggestion is for the segregation of tubercular patients on a separate piece of land, each patient to have his own hutment. This scheme is contemplated on lines similar to those in operation in the Waiapu County. The project is to give each patient his own small area, where his own food could be grown in Maori fashion, and where he could lead a free, though segregated, At present there is no native land available at the Ngaruawahia pa for this purpose, but it is the intention to acquire an area.