VENEREAL DISEASES.

White Ribbon, Volume 20, Issue 231, 18 September 1914, Page 12

VENEREAL DISEASES.

To the President* and Officers of thr various branches of the N.Z. W.C.T.U. Dear Comrades,- A letter is being received from the Department of Public Health (a copy of which is printed below) by the different I'nions in re ply to the resolution sc nt l>> them in connection with clause iq of the Hospital and Charitable Institutions Att, i()13, in which the l nion ad dressed is asked whether it is of opinio* that no power should be exert is d to keep in hospital a patient, male or female,, suffering from highly infective gonorrhoea or syphilis. My advice has been a-kvd by more than one In ion as to the answer to be given to that question. lo save time, and for the benefit of e ther Unions that may desire similar information, 1 am writing now to say that 1 believe the best answer would be >o inform the Minister that your Union i> decidedly of opinion that no power of deti ntion shoulfj be given < i • xei cised in such cases. Ihe highest experts in Britain and on the Continent have declared that what is most urgently needed is fre* treatment, and have aUo aid that fear of detention would deter many highly contagious persons from offering themselves ‘or treatment. Therefore, -j< h detention would aggravate the cvm instead of diminishing it. Obviously, it would be better that a few cases should leave the hospital before the Medical Superintendent should deem them ht to be discharged than that many, having these diseases in the most virulent form, should be deterred from seeking nmlic.il relief through fear of compulsory detention. I urge the Unions to b** firm on tliipoint, in spite of the specious arguments contained in the letter. We should not forget that tlii-. power jf detention was one of the worst features of the old C l). Acts, and t) ere fore to be avoided and resisted. We should also remember that the only cure and prevention of these diseases is total abstinence from the vi« e which produces them - Yours in W hite Ribbon bonds, J. ROBERTS, 1.. and P. Supt.

(Copy.) Department of Public Health, Hospitals, and Charitable Aid. Dear Madam, - 1 have the honour, by direction of the Honourable the Minister of 'Public Health, to acknowledge receipt of your letter having rcfemur to the recommendation of the Special Committee of the* Wellington Hospital and Charitable Aid Board, dealing with venereal diseases. As to section iq of the Hospital and Chaiitable Institutions Act, 1913, 1 would like to point out to your Union that this sec tion applie. to any mice tious or contagious disease. Representations have in the past been made to the Department that the re should be some means whereby consumptives might be detained in hospital until it could be said that the' disease was at least sufficiently arrested to enable those patients to be discharged without danger of conveying the infection to the community at large. The same argument has been advanced regard mg syphilis and gonorrh* ea. Tor the Honourable the- Minister’s further information, 1 should be glad to know if your Union i-. of opinion that no power be exercised to keep in hos 1 Hal a patient, male oi fem.de, suffering from highly infective gonorrhoea or syphilis, whether admitted to the iiospital for the treatment of that or other illness, until, in the opinion oi the Medic d Superintendent, he or she may 0c deemed to be tit to be discharged. My own personal opinion ks that the majority of the unfortun ite sufferers from these diseases will be only too willing to icftiam in hospital for that sutheieut period, and that those very indiv ; iuals who would want to leave while still highly infective would be persons, careless of themselves, egardless of others, and generally that very class over whem some sort of restraint must lie* exercised in their own interests, and more especially n the interest of others. Yours faithfully, JAS. I* FRKNGLKY, Ac ting Chief Health Officer.