TUBERCULOSIS.

Otago Witness, Issue 3864, 3 April 1928, Page 16

TUBERCULOSIS.

ATTITUDE OF DEPARTMENT. “TAHOA” POLICY CONDEMNED. CHRISTCHURCH, March 28. A sweeping attack on the stand taken up by the Health Department in regard to the treatment of tuberculosis was made by Mr A. T. Smith (chairman of the Public Health Committee of the North Canterbury Hospital Board) at a meeting of the board to-day. Giving as a symbol of the attitude taken up in the important question of the treatment of tuberculosis the Maori expression “Taihoa,” meaning “ wait a bit,” Mr A- T. Smith claimed that there was a sinister influence at work shelving all attempts to make the fight against the “white scourge” a national movement. “I don’t know who it is,” he said, “but I will refer . to the influence as the ‘mysterious Mr X? The fact of the matter is that fight as much as we can T.B. is a Dominion question. Dr Valintine in every other line of his letter says ‘ Taihoa, Taihoa.’ Our motto must not be as in Wellington, ‘ Taihoa,’ but it must be ‘ act and to the devil with taihoa.’ ” In the course of an impassioned address Mr Smith dealt with the need for another ward at Cashmere in which to treat bad cases, and the board decided to apply to the Government for a grant and to place an amount on the estimates for the building of a ward. Mr Smith’s outbreak followed the reading of a letter from Dr T. H. A. Valintine (Director-general of Health) regretf .g the department’s inability to make a special grant as requested to provide necessary and suitable accommodation for advanced male patients. The letter also asked that the board should wait a little longer before pressing its claims. “ This Taihoa policy has been going on for the past 15 years,” said Mr Smith. “It has got on my nerves. Anything that we do the cry goes up ‘ taihoa.’ There is a mysterious ‘Mr X ’ who, no matter what anyone does, comes in at the last minute and says, despite commissions, committees, and experts, ‘ you can’t do it.’ Mr Smith referred to the shelving of the resolutions adopted by special conferences on T.Bt, and said that Canterbury had been doing more than anyone in New Zealand for tuberculosis. The result was that unfortunate people in other , parts of the country, who were suffering from the disease, were coming into Canterbury to be treated. The Chairman (Mr H. J. Otley) : You can’t prove that. Mr Smith: I can prove it by two letters of application for admission at the last meeting. He was going to take the question to the local members of Parliament and have it threshed out on the floor of the House. He was going to fight to the bitter e nd. He moved that the board write expressing regret that Dr Valintine had stated that nothing could be done, that a list be sent to Dr Valintine of the 20 urgent cases at present awaiting admission, some of whom would have to wait for 12 months; and that the Government be requested to make a special grant towards the building of a ward. The motion was carried, and it was decided to place on the estimates for the year the sum of £5OOO towards the building of a new ward at Cashmere. Of this sum the board will have to find £2500 which will carry a £ for £ subsidy.