THE OBSTETRICS HOSPITAL

Otago Daily Times, Issue 22260, 12 May 1934, Page 10

THE OBSTETRICS HOSPITAL

The statement which the Minister of Health made yesterday adds nothing material to the discussion respecting the provision of the finance for the construction of the Obstetrics Hospital as an adjunct to the Otago Medical School. But, so far as it goes, it is less clear than it might be, and it is marred by the introduction of irrelevances. It was in February last that a deputation interviewed the Minister on the subject in Dunedin and at that time, on behalf of the Government, he submitted alternative proposals to the Hospital Board. One was that the Government should recondition St. Helens Hospital and hand it over to the Board for use as a maternity hospital. The other was that the Government should make a grant of £IO,OOO towards the cost, estimated at £30,000, of erecting a modern hospital, leaving the balance of £20,000 to be financed by the Board, which would, however, receive a subsidy on so much as might be raised by it by levies on the contributing authorities. Thus, if the Board raised £IO,OOO by levies this would carry a subsidy of £IO,OOO, in which event the total contribution from the Government would be £20,000, It, was made clear to the Minister at this interview that the Board would have nothing to do with the proposal to hand St. Helens Hospital over to it, the reason being that the building is old, badly situated, and incapable of being rendered suitable for the purpose while, also, it would be impossible to work it economically. There remained, therefore, the proposal by the Government to make a grant of £IO,OOO and to subsidise the funds raised by the Hospital Board to cover the difference between its grant and the cost of erecting and equipping the institution. After consideration, the Hospital Board made a counter-proposal to which it has not yet . received a reply. It was that the Government should increase its straight-out grant to £20,000 and hand over St. Helens Hospital to the Board, not for use but for disposal. In this event the Board would undertake to find the balance required, of which, in fact, the Unemployment Board had undertaken to provide approximately £3OOO. Between the Government’s proposal and the Hospital Board’s counter-pro-posal there is, it will be seen, very little difference—not much more, in fact, than is represented by the value of the St. Helens Hospital and site. It might have been supposed that the Government would regard the proposal of the Hospital Board as one that provided it with an opportunity of making a comparatively modest contribution to the establishment of a national institution, for the construction'of which a previous Government had, originally promised to set aside £50,000. And it will be surprising and disappointing if it should haggle over the sum which would, now that the trustees of the Dunedin Savings Bank are generously prepared to place a handsome vote at the disposal of the Hospital Board, admit of a necessary work being 'begun this winter. As our Wellington contemporary, the Dominion, justly observes, “money spent in providing the maternity hospital that is desired will be an investment that should return rich dividends in the lives of mothers and babies wherever future Otago graduates practise.” The community should be entitled to look to the Minister of Health, concerned as he is with the improvement of the maternity service of the Dominion, to .expedite the construction of the Obstetrics Hospital.