ISOLATED DISTRICT

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 1, Issue 53, 23 August 1939, Page 5

ISOLATED DISTRICT

NO ACCESS WITH WHAKATANE TE WHAITI HOSPITAL PATIENTS Several interesting points were raised at Tuesday's meeting of the Whakatane County Council Avhen it considered a letter from the Bay of Plenty Hospital. Board advising that provision for the admission, of urgent cases to the Rotorua Hospital already existed, and no further arrangement seemed necessary. It was recommended by the finance committee that the board be asked to indicate specifically the arrangement which existed. Points raised were that many of tiie patients Avhom the board paid for in the Rotorua hospital were probably not really eligible, and also that the; tfclUphonie communication from Te Galatea, Murupara and Waiohau was very bad, and the position should be brought before the authorities. Cr T. G. II Cawte said the Rotorua authorities had been unable -to find any notification from the Bay of Plenty Hospital Board that only urgent cases should be admitted. The Kopuriki creek often could not be crossed for days at a time. Patients from Te W r haiti had a long way to come and in the event of heavy rain nobody was going to go If or 15 miles, and possibly find the road blocked. BAD COMMUNICATION. There was no commercial communication between Whakatane and the district, whereas a daily bus service ran to Rotorua. There was no telephonic communication except by the Public Works Department line, and very often two or three hours delay occurred before a call could be made to Whakatane. It was often impossible to put even an urgent call through, because of the Public Works traffic on, the line.

Cr Cawte added that he thought the Bay of Plenty board would find that a great number of the cases being billed to it from Te Whaiti and district were Public Works men new arrivals in the board's area, and not eligible to come to Whakatane. They were men who were chopping and changing about and had no residential qualification. Cr F. J. Burt said the hospital board was thinking of the cost to ratepayers if men went holus-bolus to Rotorua and their treatment was charged to Whakatane. At a hospital board meeting he had said that they could get to Whakatane when tlie Kopuriki Stream Avas blocked, but be had been in error. He agreed that many people in Cr Cawte\s district would rather go to but they must study the ratepayers. A resolution had been forwarded to Rotorua and all other boards notifying them that the Bay of Plenty Board would only be responsible for urgent cases. Probably this notification had been sent before the time of the present personnel at Rotorua. Cr A. McGouga.'r thought that Cr Cawte should attend a hospital board meeting and discuss the matter. Cr H. C. McCiendy said that one important point had been raised by Cr Cawte, and that was the lack of communication between that part of the district and Whakatane. The position was almost as bad as at the time of the Maori war. Pie would like to see a resolution asking the authorities to improve the telephonic facilities. It was a bad state of affairs that one could not get in touch with the hospital without hours of delay, and this position was the •janie even from Waiohau. It was no good talking of getting business to Whakatane when these conditions | existed