THE FIGHT AGAINST T.B.

Chronicle (Levin), 21 July 1948, Page 7

THE FIGHT AGAINST T.B.

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Comprehensive Plans Made By Department

(Per

WELLINGTON, July 20. An -exhaustive review of what Ixacl been done in New Zealand to fight 1 tuberculosis, was given by the Minis- | ter of Health, Miss Howard, in the j House of Representatives tonight, when j she moved the secoind reading of the I Tuberculosis Bill which she describe'd | as a measure designed to consolidate ' and give speciflc legal authority to j admiliistrative activities in controlling I the disease as now exercised by the De- : partment of health and Hospital ! Boards. The Bill was also presented 'with the intention of providing a more j uniform standard of control of the disease throughout New Zealand. j The Alinister said that new inethods I of treatmeut (liseovered in reeent j years, in the wav of cliest siirgery and 1 the use of newly diseovered drugs and ! substances, gave a tuberculosis patient 1 a considerable hope of recovery if his ; disease was found in the early stages. j The newer inethods of cliest surge-y developed in reeent years liad also given the patient with a nioderately 1 udvanced disease, a sure niean" of re ro very. j To effect discovery of the early cases, continued the Minister, niass , niiniature radiography was being introduced. Tnis niethod of diagnosis, incomplete as it was alone, when com- ' bined with tuberculin testing and spec- ; lal oacteriological examinations and a ; careful clinical examination, ensured that the majority of tuberculosis cases : could be identified in a community and if necessary placed under treatment. Tlie Alinister said the linding oi earlier rases froni aniong prosuinably ' healthy groups of the population, i sh'ould be tnade easier if the Bill waspassed. The Government had already : appruved the estab'lishnient of a mass ' niiniature X-ray training uuit in Welj lingion. A niedical director had been j appointed and was expected to com1 iiionco duties in yeptember. X-ray , equipnient of the most niodo'rn design | had been. ordered froni England and ■should be installed at the end of the ' year in the proposed Xational Health instilute upposile the Wellington Hospital. Ai'ler ref'erring to the work of the Taranaki mobile X-ray unit, the Aliuister said the Govennnent had approved 1 iu pnneiple the est'.iblishnieut of seven olher niiniature X-ray units in various parts of the cuuntry but these would not be provided iiutil sufticient welltrained slalf were available. Miss Howard said the suggestion that . all school children under the age of 15 should be X-rayed every year, wa s not only impracticable but also, in the opinion of all tuberculosis officers, was unnecessary and a waste of money, time . and efl'ort. Tuberculosis of the lungs jeldom/showed itself in children j under ' ■ thio ■ * fige, , ; 'except' inS i^hSaori • children. , . • ' " " : sf* "i,Vs X-vay equipment of 'tlui jnodern Lype is. only available in liniited. quanlitv and.traiued spi-lf is not. yet livaili able; an X-ray survey of the whole ! population as requested by- somc : in to jspeciaJ, presumably healthy groups, who are ronsidered to coine into close association over long jieriods with tuberculosis infection kfuown to be in existeuce, " said the Alinister. Secondary school pupils iii tlio leaviug year, would l>e tuberculin tested and tliose wlio reacted positively would be X-rayed. Contacts of all known tuberculosis patients would, of course, be .X-rayed. It was usolesS at tliis stage of our devrlopmont to niake annual cliest X-ray eoinpulsory or inandatory. Facilities could not be provided and the cosl

eould be pro'liibitivb for the resulls iiiat couid oe expected. V accme xinniuiiisation. It was hopeit LUut much couid be ^clue^cd^ip.nx-dqqi.ii- tlie iucidoncp oi i ubercutosis, Jjy •pU.erihg inimunisatioii against Ihe, deyelopment of genuint luliefculbsis to .persous not yet uuected, with a special vaccine, sau] tlie Alinister. The Australian Governnienl had made plans to nianuxacture vaceine and had jigreed . to suppiy Xew -Zea ■land's req iu re»neuMs - by air transport as it had to be adniinistered fresh. Tlu Bill made proyrsion to olfer Lhis vaecme dn a volulitary basis to those people who,1 qf their own volition, agreed to be iinniunised. it would be used on a liniited scale at iirst. A speeiai eominittee of tuberculosis olii eers and baeteriologists liiid been set u] to devise ways and nieans as to liow tlie vaceine could be iiitrodueod intt Xew Zealand next year. Xew nietiiods of inoeulation liad satislied all coun tries tliat it was useful and safe. "Since 1943 an average of 2385 new cases of tuberculosis in both races, has been notiliecl each year to the Department of Health," said the Alinister, in discnssing the incidence of the disease among tlie European and Maori population. ' ' Deaths pcr year have averaged 940 p'ersons among the combmed races. The trend of ddath rates appears to be remaining stationary and it is encouraging to note a recorcl low mortality rate for 1947 when there were only 874 deaths from tuberculosis." Alr. Holland "said that anv Bill for a ii iiuprovement in the nation 's health niust have uiemb.ers' wholL-hoarted approval but tiro. Bill, Jike too uiauy from the Go-yerujhent, did nol go far euougli. ItuleaTt with the elfects" of tuberculosis \iather than with its de teetion and causes. The Bill eonfer red wide jiowers on tliose eharged with controlling and curing the disease and in the main tliose powers were warranted. Wliere Are The Beds? The Bill placed an obligation on Hospital Boards to treat tuberculosis patients but it was an obligaton tliey could not 'fully discharge today for lack of necessary buildings, a condition for which the' Governnient alone was responsible. " It was useless to asu Boards to erect buildings wlien, large Iv beeause of the Gove'rnnient 's wages •and houfs policy, niaterials were not available. The Aliiiister should have explained how the Governnient would assist Boards to eaTry out the duties it was plaeitig, u-pon them. Between one-sixth and orj.e-fifth- of all hospital patients t^dav were sulferipg from tuberculosis and yet hospital acconi--modation was available l'or only onehalf of those sufl'eri ng ..froiu the dis easc. in tlie contagious form. Was tfeatnient of the disease to suffer for an indefiuife time throiigh lack of facilities? Were we to go along always sulfering froni shortages? Mr. Holland "said the Maoris were the greatest sufiferers in the couutrv from tuberculosis yet when a gronp of North Island Hospital Boards chcse a site in Levin for a tuberculosis hospital they were refused the land beeause it was under Maori ov^iership. He could not believe that the decision expressed the real wish of the Maori people and he . challenged the Maori Members in the,.Hjbuse to say that the land would be made available for this most deserving purpose.