KAITANGATA HOSPITAL.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 18325, 16 August 1921, Page 6

KAITANGATA HOSPITAL.

TO THJS EDITOR.

Sin, —It would seem that, notwithstanding the appallingly high rate of motherhood mortality, there yet remain officials who have not reached the zenith of their folly. The state of affairs in Kaitangata is a crying shame. Not only is there no matenjity Hospital, but there is no trained maternity nurse, and it appears that Reconcilements are undertaken upon a contract system lor which the Coal and Oil Company has made arrangements. This Gilbertian position would be humorous were it not tragic. There is a grim irony in the fact that, whilst the medical authorities of the country are exerting their utmost skill to cope with motherhood mortality there should exist persons who tell us that the women of Kaitangata should be confined in the present dangerous and slovenly fashion, because “they desire nothing better.” Does anyone really suppose that these women favour the system which allows children to be born in crowded, bathless, comfortless, and inconvenient homes whilst a “young girl” keeps house and an untrained “nurse” visits once daily for the princely sum of 5s for 10 days? It is not a rare thing to find two families living in one small house in this township, and there are cases whore mothers have been confined in the most barbarous conditions. Kaitangata is terribly overcrowded just now. Some families are living in the shops. I have seen the young mother of an eleven-day-old baby (who had other children, and lived in a two-roomed hut) doing her washing in the open air for lack of a wash-house; ncr was I surprised to hoar that she became very ill shortly after that. One admires the courage of women who face life in such conditions, but one cannot admire the “contract system” which operates with such effects, nor the Hospital Board, which expects a doctor to contend with such difficulties. In the face of this prodigal waste of woman-health and childwelfare, one can hardly say that the scheme suits the miners’ wives, “financially or otherwise.” Endurance must not be mistaken for acquiescence. The miners’ wives have tolerated this system as Diggers tolerated “plum and apple”—because they could get nothing better. Many miners’ wives are women of high intelligence, and probably have a keener appreciation of the causes of septicaemia than many an old-school midwife. But even supposing that the miner’s wife prefers disease and disorder to precaution and cleanliness —even supposing that she has not, and never will have, a decent care for the welfare of the race —the responsibility still rests with the community to see that suitable provision is made for her. A chain is us strong as its weakest link, a race is as healthy us its weakliest child. The miner's occupation is not a healthy one, and his offspring often have a predisposition to phthisis, and should consequently receive extra care and attention in the first weeks of life. The Kaitangata Miners’ Union has shown itself very zealous in the cause of the weak, when victimisation of a strong man was alleged. Surely it will not maintain a craven silence in this all-important matter of securing the rights of the new-born babe. The need for a maternity hospital in this township is self-evident, and has been emphasised by the oft-repeated opinion of the doctor. I believe that if a meeting of Kaitangata men and women was called to discuss the question, the scheme would receive the support of all who bike any interest in the commonweal. —I am, etc.. Margaret Macpherson. Kaitangata, August 14.