THE V.D. CASES

Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 73, 20 December 1918, Page 6

THE V.D. CASES

GOING TO FEATHERSTON

A SMALL PARTY STATEMENT BY THE MINISTER. In view of the general alarm that has been raised about the transfer of a number of V.D. cases from Quarantine Island in Otago Harbour to Featherston Camp, the Minister of Defence has made the following statement selling out the facts about these patients:— The transfer of venereal patients from Quarantine Island to Fentherston Camp produced a number of protests both from individuals and in the local Press, and the protests showed a very great misconception of (he real situation. One newspaper alleged tliat 200 men suffering from venereal disease in its most aggra- : vated form were to be stationed in Featli- | crston Camp, and it is further alleged that some of them were men whose parents imagined they were killed or missing because they had not been notified that they were patients in a venereal hospital. The actual position is that not 200 men but 30 men veto transferred from Quarantine Island to Fcatherston Camp. The total number admitted to Quarantine Island durins the present year is 230, and nf these 198 were admitted from the training camps in New Zealand and 88 were returned soldiers. At the date of the transfer 245 of the total 286 had been discharged cured. Of the 41 remaining cases 25 had recovered and were sent to Feathers-ton for discharge; 11 'were convalescent and were sent to Featherstnn to undergo tests prior to discharge; the remaining five contracted influenza .and were left behind in Otago. Tt is not true that any of these cases were in the most aggravated and repulsive form of the disease; as a matter of fact neither in Quarantine Island nor in the camps have any of such cases been encountered. The medical authorities state that venereal disease is easily curetl wjien taken early, and that owing to improved modern methods of treatment aggravated cases of the disease, are rarely seen in civilised countries. No venereal nntient is discharged from the New Zealand military hospitals until #inrcd, and »no case has been met that has not been cured. Upon the cure being effected, patients are not allowed to return to civil life until they have been submitted to certain tests to prove that they are absolutely healthy, and in some classes of cases, although the. patients are cured and are non-infective, supervision and testing is continued as an added precaution for a definite period after discharge. The allegation that some parents imagined their sons were killed or missing because they had not been notified is best dealt with by stating exactly what happens in the case of a man arriving from overseas suffering from venereal disease. Immediately he arrives the man is dispatched to the venereal hospital, and the next-of-kin notified that the soldier has been dispatched to "a" hospital for treatment. They are not then informed that the man is suffering from venereal disease, but if further inquiries are made by the next-of-kin the facts are disclosed as to the character of the disease from which the soldier .is suffering and the actual hospital to which he has been sent. No parent could possibly imagine his son was killed or missing because he is definitely informed that he is a hospital patient, and the suggestion that any parents are wilfully deceived is quite untrue.