BIG BUILDING PROGRAMME

Southland Times, Issue 24446, 28 May 1941, Page 4

BIG BUILDING PROGRAMME

Marlborough Hospital

Board

(P.A.) BLENHEIM, May 27. A building programme estimated to cost £99,550 was adopted at a special meeting of the Marlborough Hospital Board which approved the estimates for the new financial year. The scheme provides an expenditure of £68,350 on an additional 52-bed two-story ward block and other work at Wairau Hospital, Blenhejm, and £31,200 for a new 28-bed hospital at Picton. To finance these proposals it was resolved to raise a loan of £lOO,OOO, involving annual payments of interest and sinking fund of £7310, half of which will be borne by the Government and half by the contributory bodies. “Hospital boards are facing a critical period,” said Dr Shore, Director of Hospitals, who attended the meeting. “There is a growing demand for increased hospital accommodation and hospitals are playing an increasingly bigger part in the medical sphere. Naturally the Social Security legislation made the demands on hospitals greater.” He estimated that the increased use through this cause was 15 per cent. Discussing the question whether the present was a wise time to build, Dr Shore said: “If we wait until after the war who can say that building will be cheaper. Judging by history it will not. There is nothing to be gained by waiting.” Referring to soldier patients, Dr Shore said that in the past military hospitals had been erected in various parts of the country, but this time it had been decided that soldier patients requiring treatment would resume their ordinary civil life at the earliest possible moment and they would be treated in civilian hospitals. Consequently all hospitals in New Zealand would have to be prepared to treat returned men. In addition aerodromes and military camps had thrown a heavy burden on hospitals nearest to their locations and hospitals must be prepared to treat illnesses arising in camps. Convened by the Hospital Board, a combined meeting of contributory local bodies subsequently heard explanations of the building scheme by Dr Shore and the chairman, Mr Gavin, when the estimates came under criticism. A motion to defer the scheme for the duration of the war was rejected by the chairman, who explained that the contributory bodies opposing the expenditure could lodge an objection with the Loans Board.