NEW SANATORIUM SITE

Chronicle (Levin), 28 January 1947, Page 4

NEW SANATORIUM SITE

May Be Anitounced Next Month Deliberations that have extended )ver two years on the question of flftd.ng the most suitable site for the proleeied 120-bed institution for tubermlosis sufferers, estimatea to cost in ;li vicinity of £500,000, are expeeted to reach finality when a fulT riieeting of ihe Western Hospital Districts' Joint Sanatorium Committee is held in Palmerston North on' February 19. The chairman (Mr. J. A. Nash) ffated yesterday that he hopdd to have ivailable for tlie meeting the decision af the Health Department on the recomuiendations of the independent panel of exjjerts which met on December 6 to investigate sites. It will be reealled that the panel^of experts eomprising Drs. C. McDoWell (T.B. officer at the Auckland Hospital), I. C. Maeintyre (T.B. officer at the Cashmere Sanatorium), A. Kidd (T.B. officer at the Waipiata Sanitorium), Messrs A. Prentiee (secreta^y of the North Canterbury Hospital B\ard, . Christchurch), and R. A. Car \%11 (civil engineer, of Christchurch), --'was set up to make a report and recommendatioffs on sites in the areas concerned, after. the Sanatorium Committee had failed to reach a decision on the isSue. The report and reconpilendations of the experts was received by the committee at a meeting on December 12, but the eontents were not made available for public ation. The results of the investigations were then forwarded to the Health Department for final approval. , Mr. Nash was distinctly optimistie that the long-outstanding question of a site for the new institution would be settled early in the New Year and that the eopiniittee would then be able to devote its full energies to getting on wiih the job. Even if the site is agreed upoii at next month 's meeting, however, it may be some years before the sanatorium is Completed. At a meeting early last year, the managing-secretary (Mr. A. J. Phillipps) told members of the committee that it would take from 18 months to two years- to prepare' the plans and speeiiications, and that the eonstruction of the buildings would take another two to three years. While much valuable time, has been lost in debating the question of the most suitable site, the attitude of the committee has been that in the interesfs of future patients only the very best available site would be good enough, and that if this were obtained it would more than compensater for the delay in providing tlie institution.