COST OF HOSPITALS

Manawatu Herald, Volume L, Issue 3893, 10 January 1929, Page 3

COST OF HOSPITALS

“The reasonableness or otherwise of the increase in the cost of hospital and charitable aid to the public funds is only answered by a conclusion as to whether the benefits received are proportionately as great or greater than such increase —e.g., hospital beds have increased in number; the cost per bed however, has increased; but the methods and s*ope of treatment of a couple of decades ago are not to be com-

pared with those of the present day,” says the “Appendix to the Annual Report of the Health Department.” “The people of New Zealand, however, have demanded and obtained a sufficient and, on the whole, efficient hospital service, and an increasing proportion of the population are using the hospitals. So long, therefore, as those receiving treatment pay as much as they can reasonably be expected to pay, and Ithe relief is administered in an economical manner, the increased cost to the public funds is not a sign of waste or extravagance. As to whether the provision of adequate hospital treatment for the poorer section of the community at the cost of the public funds is warranted, this is purely a matter of opinion, according to the views on social work and welfare of those Voicing such opinion; hut doubtless there are few who would care to see the state of things in New Zealand which obtain elsewhere, where the voluntary system exists and the hospitals are dependent upon the generosity of the charitably inclined, aided by Government grants. Finance-not being assured, the result is that large numbers of people requiring hospital treatment have to be turned away.”