THE WHITE PLAGUE.

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 904, 25 August 1910, Page 4

THE WHITE PLAGUE.

■ ■ ■ __: -0 PATIENTS AT OTAKI. ■ REPORT BT DE. HAEDWICK-SMITH. In a report on the Otaki Sanatorium .and Otaki Hospital, laid before tho Hospital and Charitable Aid Board on Tuesday, Dr. Hardwick-Smith, medical superintendent, remarks that there is a tendency, when treating consumptive patients .in New Zealand, to . attempt. to kill the germ of consumption by cultivating the germ of laziness and sluggishness. It is questionable whether it is, better, for. a patient to survive tho disease and lose his moral fibre, - therefore he advises that tho patients be encouraged to work harder and employ their time for the good of their bodies and minds. < The patients at present stay from three to six months, or even more. ■ This rule, the doctor thinks, had better be adhered to, at present, except where patients are waiting to come in. Those in the sanatorium who do not improve or go backward after three months should at once be discharged to make room for new arrivals.' "But in the near-future, when the public is better educated'in the matter of tho diagnosis aiid treatment of phthisis, we will have many more patients applying for admission; if that time comes, I would propose that the patients only stay from one to three months at the most. They should go to the sanatorium to learn how to live, andthen go into the country and be given the opportunity of earning a living. No individual who has had phthisis, however slight, should ever go back to office work. The Government are at present ■giving work to some of those unfortunate people in tree planting, but the work is not on a large enough-scale for all. It is essential that they should be given outdoor occupation if they wish to keep 'fit after, being discharged." "It is," remarks the doctor, "the prephthisical case we want to get, that is, the case that, if neglected, will develop phthisis. These cases, if given & rest for a month or six weeks, will be completely cured. The public must l>9 educated, by literature, etc., into realising the importance of visiting their medical advisers. I guarantee that if the chests of the whole population of Wellington were examined, many would be found to be suffering from consumption in varying degrees, who were totally ignorant of the fact. . "In a few years' time, I think it will bo necessary to double or even treble tlvg 6ize of the Otaki Sanatorium, and uso it as a school for teaching the prephthisical. patient and treating the phthisical case as well. It must be our endeavour to get ■ there a class of patient who really . has not consumption, but who, if not treated, will develop tho disease. When we get this class, our sanatorium will grow, and then we must obtain a resident medical officer, who will devoto all his time and energy to teaching these unfortunate people how to live and lead useful lives. I will close my report on the sanatorium by saying that good. work is being done, but it is nothing to what will l>2 done in the future, when we have educated the public into realising (he importance of stamping out this scourgo amongst them." Consideration by the board of this and other sections of its medical superintendent's report was deferred until next meeting. ■' _^