PRIVATE HOSPITAL WORK

Taranaki Daily News, 16 July 1929, Page 11

PRIVATE HOSPITAL WORK

REVIEW BY THE INSPECTOR TWENTY-SIX CLOSED LAST YEAR. MATERNAL MORTALITY PROBIJfM. By Telegraph—Press Association. Wellington, Last Night. In a report to the Director-General of Health (Dr. T. 11. A. Valintine), the inspector of private hospitals (Dr. T. L. Paget) reviews the present position and the past year’s work in maternity hospitals and ante-natal clinics. He states that the 371 institutions in this department of public health have on the whole been maintained in a satisfactory condition. These hospitals consist of seven St. Helen’s hospitals, 59 public maternity hospitals or maternity wards attached to hospitals, 93 private medical and surgical hospitals, 45 mixed medical, surgical and maternity hospitals, and IG7 private maternity hospitals. No fewer than 26 licensed hospitals were voluntarily closed, some because they were superfluous or which for other reasons did not meet with sufficient support, and some because they were not being conducted satisfactorily. Dr. Paget says he is convinced that the problem of reducing maternal mortality can be best solved by three principal methods: (1) By universal acceptance by women of the necessity for skilled and systematic ante-natal care; (2) by the general application of the principles of aseptic surgery in the practice of obstetrics, both in and out of hospitals; (3) by the provision of small, well-equipped maternity hospitals so located as to be available to patients, particularly when home conditions are not suitable for patients during confinement and in cases where indications point to a serious departure from the normal.