CORRESPONDENCE.

Timaru Herald, Volume XLIII, Issue 3584, 26 March 1886, Page 3

CORRESPONDENCE.

-*-. ! ' HOSPITAL ..RETRENCHMENT. I \ '":;:•-.-: :' ■ . i , 10 XECB EDITOR Olf THE TJMAKU HERALD. , gin,,— Youi' correspondent "Retrenchment" I considers if a 1 grpat boon- to tho community at 1 large to havo such an institution m the district , ss tho Hospitals He ia also of opinion that > that institution Bhould bo maintained m a

thorough stato of efficiency no matter what bo tho expense. TTp to this point I entertain tho same sentiments as your correspondent, but he thinks that without impairing efficiency ho could effect a Baying m tho expenditure by — by what? by doing without a Resident Surgeon. Nay, more, that this chango would add to tho comfort of all concerned, and would make tho Hospital more popular, moro useful, and more efficient. Hero I must bog to bo excused from going any further on the same road with "Retrenchment" How could it possibly add to the comfort of tho patients to be without a surgeon m tho institution ? How could the absence of an efficient medicoloffieor make tho Hospital moro popular, or moro usof ul, or more efficient ? It appears to me that tho mere statement of theso queries shows the utter absurdity of the proposal. I would suggest to ''Retrenchment" that ho might with advantage have a chat on Hospital matters with some ono of tho many ex-patients who had : spent somo time there. Ho would thuß be oblo to learn from thoso who havo made use of the Hospital what they would think of it without a resident medical officer, whether they consider it would under these circumstances bo either more efficient or moro comfortable. It seems to mo perfectly clear that if tho Resident Surgeon woro dispensed with it would bo utterly impossible for a visiting medical Btaff, however devoted thoso gentlemen might be, to give tho samo assiduous attention to urgent cases that a resident medical man could. They could not do it m justice to their own outside patients. Take, for instance, a caso among many others that lately occurred. Mr John Lewis met with a most serious accident somo niuo or ten weeks ago. A heavy hammer thrown from tho handa of an athlete, struck him on tho forehead, smashing his skull very badly. Ho was taken to tho Hospital, and a moßt delicate operation successfully performed on him. In less than five weeks he was restored to health and able to go homo. Can anyone say that Mr Lewis would have had tho same chance of recovery had he not elected to stay m on institution where ho had a competent and attentive medical man constantly near him to do always the right thing at tbe right time ? In my humble opinion, tho Hospital is a boon to tho whole community, chiefly for this reason : that there is a resident surgeon there, and m urgent cases all classes of tho community can make use of it, knowing that they will receive closer attention from a medical man rcsidont m tho houso than thoy possibly could from an outside practitioner, the many demands on whose timo prevent him from doing more than calling onco, or at most, twico o day, for perhaps a few minutes at a timo. If our Hospital Board are thinking of retrenchment, they will certainly begin m tho wrong placo if they do away with the office of resident surgeon. I venture to 6ay if such a courso wero pursued, tho Hospital would become unpopular, pcoplo would loso confidence m it, and justly so, for it could not possibly then be bo efficient as it J3 under the present arrangement. I am, &c, A Convalescent. Timaru, 25th March, 188 G.