THE OTAGO DAILY TIMES SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 21, 1929. HOSPITAL TREATMENT,

Otago Daily Times, Issue 20828, 21 September 1929, Page 12

THE OTAGO DAILY TIMES SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 21, 1929. HOSPITAL TREATMENT,

The Minister of Health is entitled to gome. sympathy , in' respect of the criticism that ’ was/ directed against him in the Lower . House in connection with a statement made by him at the Hospital Boards’ Conference on the subject of pay-wards at public hospitals. The : idea of the inclusion in public hospital establishments of wards set apart for persons who desire accommodation ‘ and treatment by medical practitioners of their own choice, for which they are prepared to pay, is not at all novel. Where it has been adopted it has been found to operate successfully. The ground of opposition to it is that it . would entail the. introduction of class distinctions in public hospitals. That contention is' more persistent than logical. The public hospitals of the Dominion could hardly partake more of the character of class institutions than. they do at the present time, since they are used almost entirely by patients, who. either pay for maintenance only or do not pay at all. The users of the hospitals, that is to say, are of the class that docs not include the comparatively .well-to-do. The view that if their doors were opened to all members or classes of the Community—which in theory they are, though they are not in practice—the hospitals would develop undesirable class-features is baaed on a process of reasoning that is rather obscure. As a matter of fact if, under present conditions, all classes did use the the public 'hospitals the available accommodation r would • be hopelessly over-taxed, and the institutions would have to be very considerably enlarged at heavy cost to the State. y In existing circumstances members, of the community who can afford to pay for a certain amount of privacy as patients, and for the services of a medical practitioner of their own selection, make use of. private hospitals. In so doing, however, they arc deprived ’of the benefit of the superior equipment which the public hospitals possess. There is no valid reason why, if they so desire, they should not enjoy the conditions of treatment at a public hospital in common with all .members .of the community, with other advantages added. The fact that they are prepared to pay for the privilege of being in a special ward and of | receiving treatment'from their own medical adviser should not 'disqualify them from entering a public hospital. The argument respecting differential treatment is .most unconvincing. The institution qf pay-wards seems to represent, the Only .means whereby the public hospitals, can be made non-class institutions in that. they ! may • provide facilities for the treatment of all who desire to enter , them .as patients. !,