A TIME FOR ACTION

Otago Daily Times, Issue 26634, 3 December 1947, Page 4

A TIME FOR ACTION

Fortunately for the peace of mind of parents in the South Island, the outbreak of infantile paralysis appears still to be confined to the north, but since the spread of the disease is known to be slow there can be no assurance that the southern districts are likely to remain unaffected. And while children are still permitted to travel freely to and from the infected areas there is even less likelihood that the present immunity of the South Island can be maintained. Fresh positive cases are being reported in Auckland every day, yet while the health authorities issue warnings of the danger of permitting children to congregate, other Government departments are packing school children—some of them 1 possibly infected with the virus—into congested railway carriages and buses and transporting them to all parts of the Dominion. This unrestricted circulation of possible carriers must nullify the largely negative powers that are held by district medical officers. The time for authority, to ba exercised in attempting to control an epidemic is at the outset, and it is essential that direction should come from the top of the public health organisation and not from its scattered and unco-ordinated elements. The urgency of the situation and the desirability of allaying the mental stress under which so many parents are labouring do not appear to have impressed on the Minister of Health the need for immediate and, if necessary, drastic action. He/ statement that the question of

travel would be determined within the next few days will be regarded by most people as not only inadequate, but as unjustifiable temporisation at a time when strict controls, and especially a prohibition on the travel of children from the North Island, should be imposed. In permitting the unrestricted movement of children through New Zealand, the Minister is taking a risk that might have the gravest of consequences, and one for which she must bear full responsibility. And it may be noted that more precautions are being taker, against the spread of the disease to Australia than are being taken to preserve the present fortunate immunity of the South Island. Since this immunity must be of problematical duration, however, it would be advisable for local authorities to consider means by which the danger of infection might be reduced. The assembling of hundreds of children at sports meetings, for instance, could be avoided, and the abandonment of a number of functions usually held at this time of the year would be more than justified in the interests of the children themselves.