WAIPIATA SANATORIUM.

Otago Witness, Issue 3882, 7 August 1928, Page 16

WAIPIATA SANATORIUM.

MEETING OF COMMITTEE. The Waipiata Sanatorium Committee met in Dunedin on Tuesday last, there being present Messrs J. Matheson (chairman), E. Macdonald, W. Bryant. H. Grenfell, J. Clark, J. Ritchie, J. JElorrell, E. Morgan and Dr F. S. Maclean, representing the Department of Health. Dr A. Kidd (medical superintendent) was also present. The Maniototo Hospital Board advised that Mr E. Morgan, of St. Bathans, had been re-appointed its representative on the committee.

Leave of absence was granted to Mr A. Fraser 1 (Oanraru), Mr Grenfell, representing the Wataki Board in his .stead. The Hospital Boards' Association forwarded copies of correspondence that had passed between the Minister of Health and the secretary of the association with reference to the proposed amendment to section 92 of the Hospitals Act so far as it referred to the residence and treatment of t.b. cases, and in view of the difficulty in arriving at a satisfactory amendment of the Act to meet the wishes of all hospital boards in the Dominion, the communication was received, members being of the opinion that this was really a mateer that should be discussed at the next Hospital Board’s conference. The secretary reported the result of his negotiations and correspondence with Messrs Andersons, Ltd., of Christchurch, and with the Public Works Department in getting the hot water service installed in the new shelters for females, and as a result of these arrangements the boiler was now on the ground, and it was hoped to have the work completed in the course of the next two weeks. He also reported having made arrangements with Messrs Shacklock, Ltd., to install electric hot-water apparatus for the new male patients’ shelters, and his report was received and his action in these matters approved. Dr Kidd reported that the electrical apparatus was working satisfactorily. BED STATE. The secretary submitted a statement showing that at the date of the meeting the different boards had patients in the institution as follows: —South Canterbury 25, Southland 29, Ashburton 12, Waitaki South Otago seven, Wallace three,

Maniototo four, Vincent one, Sanatorium Committee one, private patient one—a total of 93. Of that number one had been in .for more than two years, 15 for more than one year, and 77 for less than one year. Since the previous meetirv eight patients had been discharged, ail with the disease arrested. He also reported that the waiting list had been reduced from 80 the previous meeting to 65, and in view of the early opening of the new female patients’ shelters this Avould be still further reduced before next meeting.—Adopted. MEDICAL SUPERINTENDENT’S REPORT. Dr A. Kidd advised that during the month of June five patients had been admitted, six discharged, while 78 were remaining on July 1, and all these, with the exception of six. whose condition was stationary, were doing well or were improving. He forwarded his weather report for June, and made recommendations regarding the admission to the institution of patients he had examined during his visits in June to Ashburton, Timaru, Oamaru and Invercargill.—The report was adopted arid his requisition for sundry requirements granted. The farm manager submitted a return of mutton and milk supplied to the torium, and the Farm Committee reported that it ivas making provision for the keeping of pigs and poultry, and that at the present time there w r as an abundance of feed for all the stock on the farm. The. water race required certain minor repairs.—The report was adopted. The treasurer submitted his usual statement of receipts and payments, the bank balance ‘at date of meeting, and also a statement of the receipts and payments for the four, months of the present year as compared with the amount estimated. The actual receipts showed a slight decrease on the estimates, while the actual expenditure also showed a decrease. The Director-general of Health, on the recommendation of the treasurer, notified that the Minister of Health had approved of the'•committee’s estimated capital expenditure for the year on the understanding that, if any of the works therein outlined were not undertaken, the associated boards would not be called upon to pay the whole of their capital levy for the current year.

Accounts and salaries totalling £531 5s 5d were passed for payment. It was decided to hold th- •—■>.'+ — Q »+, ing of the committee at Dunedin on Tuesday, August 28.

The chairman reported having purchased a suitable billiard table tor the use of the patients at the institution, and he .states that this would be installed during the month. TUBERCULOSIS COMMISSION. The report of the Tuberculosis Commission, as outlined in the Otago Daily Times, was discussed, the members being somewhat disappointed that while it to some extent criticised the committee’s policy at Waipiata Sanatorium as regards tuberculin treatment, type of patient admitted, length of stay in the institution, etc., it had made no constructive suggestions in connection with these matters that the committee might adopt. With regard to the suggestion that more advanced eases should be admitted, the committee emphasised the fact that at Timaru in 1922 the associated boards were urged by the Director-general of Health (Dr T. H. A. Valintine) to establish a sanatorium at Waipiata for the curative treatment of early cases of phthisis, and to the best of its ability the committee, on behalf of the associated boards, had carried out that policy with marked success as evidenced by the fact that for the five years ended March 31, 78 per cent, of the 208 patients discharged from the sanatorium had had the disease arrested and were thus able to return to their former employment. If the committee’s policy were to be extended to include the more advanced type of case, considerable capital expenditure would require to be incurred in providing more patients’ accommodation. The committee appreciated the fa>.w that the commission had evidently given careful consideration to the question of tuberculosis in the Dominion, but was still of the opinion that the policy and practice at Waipiata of giving prior consideration to the treatment- of the early case was, from a health and economic point of view, a sound one, as every advanced case today was at one time an early case, which no doubt could have been cured with less expense and loss of time than was now possible. The committee further expressed the fact that it had the fullest confidence in the methods adopted by its medical superintendent (Dr A. Kidd), and that it would like to emphasise the fact that the latter did not admit patients to the institution for treatment without their having been first recommended by another medical practitioner. • Also apart from his work in the institution be had, during the past year, under the committee’s

directions, kept in touch with discharged patients, and had personally examined at the different centres in the committee’s area 324 suspected cases of tuberculosis, of whom 195 were considered suitable for sanatorium treatment, ‘69 unsuitable, while 60 had no definite sign of the disease.

The committee was of the opinion that if every hospital district in the Dominion were to put the same enthusiasm into this campaign as the associated South Island boards had done, the next 10 years would see a marked reduction in the number of deaths from pulmonary tuberculosis.