DELIRIUM TREMENS

New Zealand Times, Volume XXIX, Issue 6315, 16 September 1907, Page 5

DELIRIUM TREMENS

treatment of oases. SPECIAL PROVISION ASKED. In Iho House of Reproeeaitativos on Thursday i r v Arnold n*ke*.l ‘the Government whriher its att'urion has been cnlVd to the cr.=<> o'' a person suffering from delirium t’-nmenr? committing suioidn in rim Dunedin r>ri«on last week, also the following rider ndd'xl bv the jnrv to their verdict, "That the fury desire* to call the attention of the proncr authorities to the necessity of having regular words for coses elsewhere than in prisons or police stations, and that observation-wards be arranged for in connection with the same": if so, .will the Government take the whole matter into consideration, also the reports of the Inspector of Prisons and the Gaoler at Auckland protesting against such cnees being sent to urisotns for treatment, and take such steps os will meet the difficulty in the four chief centres ? The member for Dunedin pointed out that there is no proper provision for acute alcoholic cases in tho Dunedin Hospital, and no padded cell In the prison, where two cases of (suicide have takon place during the last few weeks.

1 The Minister -in Charge (Mr Fowlds) said: There is no doubt that delirium tremens cases should bo admitted to the hospital®, where such con be done without their being a possible source of dan- ; ger to th© patients, which, as in the above instance,, is not always the case. Where- no proper accommodation exists, it should be provided. Some time ago the Hospital Boards were asked to make the necessary provision, at the expenseof the colony, I will again bring the matter before tHe Boards with a view to haying action •Mr Arnold thought the Government should make such inquiry from * the medical - men not only of Dunedin but of the other large centres,- which would cause 'suitable provision to be made in each town, so th!at those suffering from such diseases as these might be properly looked after. The Horn G. Fowlds said this was fairly a matter for the Hospital Boards to. undertake. It was sickness of an acute kind, and the Government had offered to do all that 'the Hospital Boards should require. It had offered to pay 'the cost of erecting suitable accommodation at the four centres in the colony an'd to make special provision for treating patients. Beyond that it was impossible for the Government to go; it cannot set np separate institutions ■ and keep a staff of doctors in attendance to treat occasional cases of delirium tremens. Where the Hospital Boards had the necessary staff, and considering, that the Government found half the cost of the whole expense of the hospital, it was not too much to ask that the Boards should undertake these cases.