CASES OF TUBERCULOSIS

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXIV, Issue 22657, 19 February 1937, Page 10

CASES OF TUBERCULOSIS

CONCERN IN SOUTHLAND MANY PATIENTS AT WAIPIATA [BY TELEGRAPH —PIIESS ASSOCIATION] INVERCARGILL, Thursday Alarm at the number of tubercular I patients in Southland was expressed | by the chairman, Mr. T. Golden, at j tho meeting of the Southland Hospital : Board to-day. It was stated that at | present there were 60 Southland j patients in the Waipiata Sanatorium, | more than half of the total number the institution was supposed to hold. "The time has come," said Mr. Golden, "when we need an institution for the treatment of tubercular cases who are too far advanced for admission to Waipiata. At present little or no provision is made for those patients, but if any headway is to be made in checking the spread of the disease early steps will have to be taken to segregate these sufferers. "Comparison with tho Wallace district shows Southland in an even worse light," tho chairman continued. "They have the same type of peopleas we have, living under the same conditions, yet the number of Wallacepatients in Waipiata is very small. It is up to tho Health Department to make a thorough investigation into conditions in Southland to ascertain if ! possible why tuberculosis is so rife here. If any other hospital board district had as many patients as Southland. Waipiata would bo swamped by the numbers seeking admission. As it is, we are only entitled to havo 36 patients in the institution." Tho secretary, Mr. T. Pryde, said that New Zealand had the lowest | death rate in the world from tuber- | eulosis. "Dr. McKibbin, medical officer of health at Dunedin, lias suggested," j he added, "that Southland's big pro- | portion of tubercular patients can ! probably bo attributed in some measure to tho energy of the board's medical i superintendent, who has patients admitted to the sanatorium before tho j disease is far advanced."