HOSPITAL TREATMENT

Waipa Post, Volume XXIV, Issue 1640, 12 May 1925, Page 5

HOSPITAL TREATMENT

PAYIMENT OF FEES BY PATIENTS.

NO DISCRIMINATION IN ADMIT- , TING CASES;

An echo of the action of Palmerston North hospital superintendent in refusing admittance to a certain patient some months ago was heard at the Waipa County Council meeting on Monday. The Kiwitea County Council wrote forwarding a copy of the commissioner's report on the recent inquiry into t'he circumstances relating to the treatment of a patient in the Palmerston North hospital. As a result of the commission's finding, the communication stated, the Kiwitea County Council was more than satisfied. The question of the administration of hospitals was one that should be gone into with the object of obtaining certain reforms. The public hospitals were ma'intainejd by the ratepayers, and should be open to everyone, whether rich or poor, and no person should be refused admission unless the accommodation at the time was insufficient to meet demands. It was only by cooperation on the part of local bodies —county councils in particular—that certain matters could be remedied and the administration of hospitals placed on a better footing. Continuing, the communication asked the Council to support specified proposals, including one' that the medical practitioners should have no right to inquire as to the financial status of patients. The Kiwitea County Council further recommended increased hospital charge so that patients of sufficient financial ability should pay such fees as would enable the Board to pay a reasonable fee ..to the members of the honorary staff attending that particular case in accordance with an agreed scale for services rendered, with provision for partial' or complete remission of fees in cases where circumstances justified such remission. The increased income of boards under this head could be utilised in reducing levies on local bodies, in providing additional accommodation, including private wards, and in providing a resident medical staff to undertake the duties .at present undertaken by t'he honorary medical staff. The support and sympathy of the Waipa County Council were therefore requested in a matter which it was stated was one of utmost importance, affecting as it did the whole of the Dominion.