WAIHI HOSPITAL DISTRICT.

Hauraki Plains Gazette, Volume XXXII, Issue 4321, 23 September 1921, Page 2

WAIHI HOSPITAL DISTRICT.

In his criticism of the Thames Hospital Board’s objection, to be saddled with the incubus of the Waihi Hospital, the chairman of the latter institution adroitly walks all round the subject without coming to the centre of it. All his statements about the treatment of patients, the fees charged to those from other districts — common procedure throughout New Zealand and not applicable to Thames arid Waihi alone—are apart from the mam point altogether. The position is that the Thames Hospital Board has greater responsibilities in the way of finance than it can conveniently carry at present, and naturally views with profound misgivings the cool recommendation of the Hospitals Commission that Waihi Hospital District, with its insolvent financial standing, should be amalgamated with that of Thames. There might be some hope of compromise if there was any future in Waihi worth looking forward to, but seeing that in the immediate vicinity of Waihi there is little else than a barren waste, the prospects of Waihi recovering and growing on account of agricultural development around it, as Paeroa is doing, are extremely remote. The law of self-preservation must inevitably force the Thames Hospital Board to maintain its present attitude, unless and until some concrete assurance is forthcoming from the Government that Thames will be recompensed financially for the carrying of the extra burden. The problem resolves itself into one of finance and not of personal likes or dislikes, or the' incidentals of treatment and charges in Waihi or Thames districts of patients from each other’s territory. As the chairman of the Thames Boara said at the last meeting, as reported in the “Gazette,” the funds must be forthcoming if amalgamation is to be effected, otherwise the Waihi Hospital will have to be reduced to very small proportions. It is all very regrettable, but nothing can be gained by blinking the cold facts of the case.