HEALTH SERVICES PRAISED

Press, Volume CV, Issue 30976, 4 February 1966, Page 14

HEALTH SERVICES PRAISED

The decentralisation into distr ic t s of Health Department and hospital services in New Zealand has “impressed immensely” the New South Wales Minister of Health (Mr A. H. Jago), who arrived last evening in Christchurch with Mr J. D. Rimes, permanent head of the Health Department in Sydney.

“Our district medical officers of health and all the services administered by them appeal to me greatly,” Mr Jago said. “Our depart ment is too centralised and tries to blanket the whole State. It lacks the intimacy of association and service you have here. “Your public hospitals, too. appear to operate on a district basis and are complementary to one another. In New South Wales we have 260 hospitals, large and small, each functioning as an entirely separate entity." The school dental service interested Mr Jago most. He said New South Wales had virtually none and he hoped soon to remedy this deficiency. The New Zealand service was rated as the best in the world. He could appreciate this and would not hesitate to use it as a model. Mr Jago has had talks with the Prime Minister, Minister of Health, and other ministers on matters affecting his department, he has visited Health Department, hospitals, and teaching institutions 'in Wellington and Dunedin, and will make calls in Christchurch until Sunday evening.

Mrs Jago (formerly Miss

Valerie Hunter) is an old girl of Rangi-ruru School which she plans to visit during her stay. Her father was formerly Lyttelton harbourmaster.

Mr Rimes (who is accompanied by his wife) is taking a particular interest in water pollution. He said this was becoming a serious problem in New South Wales. New Zealand had splendid control schemes even though the need to implement them had not become urgent. Disposal of industrial wastes was a major difficulty being encountered all over the world, he said.