STATE HOSPITALS

Waipa Post, Volume 44, Issue 3181, 24 May 1932, Page 8

STATE HOSPITALS

COST IN NEW ZEALAND. COMPARISONS MADE. Some comments on the difference between the public New Zealand hospitals and those of England, which depend almost entirely on voluntary contributions for their maintenance, were made by Dr David McMiLan, of Christchurch, who returned to New Zealand recently after spending three and a-half years abroad. One of the outstanding differences, he said was the higher administrative costs in the Dominion. The cost of hospital administration in New Zealand appeared to be enormous, Dr McMillan said. One could not help noticing here the extreme degree of bureaucracy and "red tape" combined with what appeared to be State trading. An average cost of running one of the large London hospitals was between 9s and 10s a day per bed. Such hospitals were not, of course, equipped with all the extensive therapeutic and diagnostic apparatus and staffs such as were usually instahed in general hospitals in New Zealand.

" General hospitals in New Zealand are among the best equipped in the world," Dr McMillan said. "However, it remains to be seen whether the taxpayer can bear the cost. Proposals to add private wards to State hospitals seem to be merely further instances of State trading, which, in this case, would probably prove unprofitable. ATTITUDE OF HEALTH. " In regard to medical matters in general, the attitude toward 'health' in this country shows a marked difference from that in any other country. ' Health/ as a subject for popular discussion, appears to occupy a prominence unknown in other lands. This is probably due to the activity of lay teaching but it is perhaps a mixed blessing." From the patient's point of view, Dr McMillan added, British surgery was the best in the world. The British surgeon never seemed to lose sight of the individual. Although there was very little attempt in London to group the various special branches of study, London was still the wor'd's greatest centre of surgery. In most foreign clinics it was possible to see surgery that was good from a technical viewpoint, but the sound combination of scientific training, experience and technique remained essentially British. THE SPECIALIST. " The view held in England that it takes years of training to make a specialist is undoubtedly correct," Dr McMillan said. " English surgeons differ from those of other countries in their evaluation of statistics, which they recognise to be of little use when compiled in the customary way. Then there is their attitude toward ' new' and rediscovered treatments. Before a prominent English surgeon gives an opinion on some new treatment, he has to be absolutely sure of his ground. It is still hard to get a really definite opinion on the merits of radium and X-ray treatment. " New Zealand medical men have two outstanding assets if they intend to study abroad. In the first place, it is recognised that there is a very high standard of medical practice in the Dominion, and, secondly, there is the good name that New eZaland enjoys all over the world—the greatest of all attributes."