EPIDEMIC EXPENSES

Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 85, 4 January 1919, Page 8

EPIDEMIC EXPENSES

HOSPITAL CHARGES.' '' Sir,—Would you kindly tell me, , through' the correspondence column of your paper if. it js correct that the Government is to pay all expenses of-the temporary .'hospitals in use during the recent epidemic? And if this is so, in' the-many cases where buildings, food, and ,all labour have been given free, are local bodie3 justified in further penalising the unfortunate victims of the epidemic by charging them at the rate of 9s. a day? Thanking you in anticipation,—l am, etc., ... ;■ . . -INQUIRER. [The Government is to pay all.the expenses ,of the temporary hospitals used during the epidemic. Payment' will be made in' the first instance by the local authority, the hospital board, and the will refund to the board. The rules for the making of a charge to patients will be the same, as if, the patients had been treated in ordinary public hospitals. Those who are in a position to pay will be required to pay,;and it will be the duty of the local authority to collect , the fees on behalf of the.-Gov-ernment. So far as is known, the Wairarapa Hospital Board ..is the only one charging 9s. a day. There has been no hard and fast rule made that every, patient must' pay. The iulo .will be ad-' ministered with leniency, and no demand will bo made if a family has suffered serious hardship. For instance,.if the breadwinner in a poor family hae been ill in a hospital, it is .probable that the fees would be remitted.] ,-.->'... : .'