A REJECTED SCHEME

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LXIV, Issue 19456, 15 October 1937, Page 5

A REJECTED SCHEME

HEALTH OF THE MAORIS SIR A. NGATA’S COMMENT <Parliamentary Reporter.) WELLINGTON, this day. The segregation of Maori tuberculosis patients in a special village properly equipped for their treatment was urged by Sir Apirana Ngata (Nat., E. Maori) in the House of Representatives, when speaking in the debate on the Budget. He recommended the adoption of the scheme suggested by an officer of the Health Department, Dr. H. B. Turbott, and endorsed by Dr. Lambert, of the Rockefeller Foundation, who visited the Dominion last year at the invitation of the Government. Sir Apirana said that the outstanding problem of Maori health was tuberculosis. The death-rate of 14 per 1000 of Maori people was too heavy. The scheme for segregating the worst cases and removing them from the villages into a central place where they could be under the care of a special nurse was as sound a scheme as could be devised, and this would solve the difficulties of individual nursing and risks of infection. The idea had broken down because the department was too conservative, and it would remain so unless the Minister took hold and insisted on the recommendation being carried out. The expenditure of a few thousands of pounds would have solved the problem for about 10,000 Maoris living in his district.