THE KUMARA HOSPITAL.

NZ Truth, 4 January 1908, Page 5

THE KUMARA HOSPITAL.

DR. VALINTINE AND THE HO3PITAL TRUSTEES. 4re the Patients Only Boarders? ; Trustees Tackle a Tartar. K.umara Hospital Trustees had a devil of a row with Sawbones Valintine, .Government Inspector, the other;. day ;in fact, relations between 1 them .are what the daily press calls "very, strained." Fact of the matter is, Kumara, m company with other West Coast towns which boast public infirmaries, isn't able to supply the. much-hurt and extremely-sick person to such a great extent as formerly, and the immediate necessity for maintaining a costly medical and nursing staff there doesn't occur to the new inspector ... with such force j«.s Kumara desires. In good old Dr. McGregor!s timelthat elderly inspector used to s.efwl notice of his visits.beforehand, and everything could be m apple-pie order, with beds filled if necessary, ere the official person arrived. But Valintine is a scrupulous cuss and drops down on the int stitution without giving due warning to the doctor and trustees, and,a row lias been brewing for a long time. .There are stories about; West ' Coast hospitals,, where the dead-beats of the town have been rounded up to

populate the beds of the unused local, institution, and give it the appearance of doing a ' roaring trade; ' T^ere are some patients, even m the city . hospitals, who are professional sick persons and dodge the doctor on his daily rounds to ensure longer residence m a comfortable home. Some of them help the nurses to a considerable extent, and though the Florrie Nightingales don't connive at the imposition they SYMPATHISE WITH THE MALINGERERS. who remain longer than would be the ■ ease if they weren't so useful. The West Coasters dump their old men into the hospitals, and, the comparatively new inspector dislikes it. In his annual report to last Parliament Dr. Valintine commences the attack at the G-rey Hospital, and m a footnote he expresses the opinion that "visits to the West Coast Hospitals show the urgent need of establishing an old men's home m the district." At the Hokitika Hospital he says : "There were thirty patients m the 'hospital, of whom nineteen were old men." At Kumara he is exceptionally forcible, and remarks, "As this Hospital is within twelve miles of Greymouth, sixteen miles of Hokitika; and within five miles of the railway by a good road, I cannot see' the need for its existence." As regards the Ross Hospital, the Inspec-' tor-General goes on : "There were eight i patients, all chronic or old men. Except for a centre, for a medical man, this hospital is hardly necessary." When Valintine was introduced to the Kumara Trustees recently, some of them snorted with the knowledge of tattle to come, and the doctor asked if the Trustees weye aware that the surgeon superintendent was using the institution as a private hospital, and that ex-patients were asked to pay a fee other . than the £1 a week ? Chairman Mulvihill remarked stiffly that Dr. Morkane had informed a private inquiry, of the Trustees that he was not charging an improper fee. The matron had ' refused to answer any question bearing on the subfect. Trustee Haymes volunteered the information that he wasn't aware of a case where the doctor had made an extra charge. . • , • Dr. Va:inttne then remarked, with derision, "Well, gentlemen, if that is the \ case it doesn't say much for the intelligence of the Trustees ;\ I have good ground for believing otherwise." The. fearless medico then observed that the Trustees should have made .a more searching inquiry. A charge of 'gun-cotton couldn't have had a more startling effect than the speech. Mjembers spluttered with indignation, and one Rouse averred, that the Trustees were quite as intelligent as the imperturbable doctor. An' example of the inspector's "intelligence" (with a "beastly accent on the "tell")" was furnished previously whenhe stated that there were only two fit patients m the hospital. After being shown over the institution, however, by the surgeon superintendent; he admitted that there were six, and m his annual report he gave the num-< her as nine.- Rouse, who was considerably roused, agitatedly denounced tbe insult to a hospital which had •lone good work for thirty years m spit 1 of the inspector. Trustee Jorgenseri was pretty rough. He remarked that Dr. McGregor, the former inspector, WAS A, GENTLEMAN, and 1 always, gnve notice to the trustees of any prospective visit. Mr Murdoch concluded a speech m a key of pained deprecation by say* in© that Di. Valintine, as a-gentler-man, should withdraw his objectionable remarks about the intelligence of the Trustees. The doctor : I think * the inquiry was not particularly searching, and for that reason I will not withdraw the words complained o!. A fierce member named McOlone said he was surprised that a man appointed by the Government should bo far forget himself as ' to insult men m the way Dr. Valintine had done. For over 20 years the Trustees had worked m the best interests of the hospital. It was a credit to the district, and its present surgeon . superintendent was head and shoulders over Dr. Valintine m his Dr, Valintine had been hostile to the Kaimara Hospital from the start, although he Could "find no complaint against it. ... < -, Dr. Valintine : I don't deny I have been hostile. , Seven 'members here spoke at once, and verbal violence was hurled into tbe atmosphere and cakewalked around Valintine' s ears. The medico tried to get a word m edgeways, and finally remarked, > "We are. not getting any further ahead ; I didn't come here to listen to recriminations." ' Several heated Trustees;.. You've brought it on through . youi" ungentletnanly conduct. ' "Good evening, gentlemen," -remarked Valfnttne, politely, as he retired. ■ "Good night!'? "800-800 !" "Tata!" "Mind the step!" remarked the Trustees, with withering sarcasm, and the audience also projected remarks into space. "A PACK OF WOLVES,"' remarked, T the Inspector, as he disappeared. '„.■" The Trustees then spoke m brutally frank terms about Valintine, who, it had', been reported, wanted to abolish the Kumara, Reef ton, Ross, arid (eventually) the Hokitika hospitals. It was resolved, with grim unanimity, "That the remarks of Dr. Valintine,' characterising a certain act of the Trustees as 'not saying . much for their intelligence,' can only be viewed as a gross personal insult, and that his refusal to withdraw the same t|e reported to the Minister for, Hospitals." • • It was also resolved to call a public meeting to avert the peril to the (local hospital and to send a deputa- > tion to the Government with the same ! object. A resolution 1 expressing confidence m the medical superintendent was carried with one dissentient, and the Trustees adjourned for a beer. To think that Seddon's Kumara should be reduced to this condition of things. Seddon, alas, is \'ery dead, and, judging by the apathetic memorial movement, very much forgotten. .However, Spddon, junior, M.P., i has risen to the occasion, and telegraphs the assurance of the Minister, that Kunrnra's hospital will not go— 1 Valintine or no Valintine.