UNPAID FEES

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXII, Issue 7024, 12 January 1910, Page 5

UNPAID FEES

AN IMPROVED HOSPITAL ACCOUNT,

Newspaper criticism of the Wellington Hospital Trustees, because of the small proportion of fees collected from the patients, is evidently resented by that body. At its meeting yesterday tho Hon. C. M. Luke (chairman) asked the press to note that the secretary had been instructed to take legal proceedings against patients for payment of fees. He pointed out that a largo proportion of those who were treated were unable to pay. anil he did not think there had been any laxity on tho part of the board’s officers. Ho was quite sure, too. that tho Finance Committee had given so much time and attention to the matter that in no sense could they Jay to heart the strictures passed by persons, ignorant of tho position, who knew nothing about hospital administration. Every endeavour was being made to secure tho fees'from those who could pay. To assume, because a largo number of people entered the- hospital, that it should bo self-supporting was utter nonsense. Hospitals existed primarily for the benefit of tho poor, and it was impossible to get rauc|i of a return. Hie quoted from a statement to show that receipts from patients during the past nine months showed an increase. ,