THE HOSPITAL

Rotorua Morning Post, Volume 3, Issue 716, 16 December 1933, Page 4

THE HOSPITAL

Apparently the Rotorua Borough Council's claim to any jur- j isdiction over Pukeroa Hill is to be ignored and the Health Department and Waikato Hospital i Board intend to proceed with their plans. The hospital board will take over control of King George V. Hospital on April 1 of next year and with certain financial assistance from the Government alter the existing j buildings to conform to the re- j quirements of a 50-bed hospital. This should actually be sufficient for the needs of the town, but it would be more satisfaetory to know the intentions of the board ,in regard to other details of administration. We have heard it stated that it is the intention of the board to take only minor cases into the Rotorua institution and transfer all serious surgical cases to Hamilton. If this is the board's intention, a protest should be made by the people of j the town. As Mr. Banks stated j during the course of the discus- j sion on the subject at the board | meeting, Rotorua, as the fourth J town in the Auckland province, is entitled to the services of a fully qualified resident medical officer, and is fully entitled to raise a vigorous protest if it is given anything less. We cannot sympathise with Mr. Banks in the doleful picture which he , painted of a hospital full of accident cases during the holiday season and in any instance but a general emergency, 50-bed accommodation would appear to be reasonably sufficient. In any case of emergency, it should always be possible to use the additional accommodation avail- J able. ! Although the substantiation of the Borough Council's claim to jurisdiction over the reserve | would entail legal. expense and delay, the council would be justified in proceeding to test its claim. If the present intentions of the board are fulfilled and it takes over the reserve on a 21 ! years lease with the right of renewal for a further term, the ratepayers of Rotorua to whom the area was originally gifted by the Ngati Whakaue, will forfeit any voice which they may have in the administration of Pukeroa Domain. Quite apart from that, the Health Department, which certainly has no claim to the area, appears to have acted in a very high-handed manner in ignoring the protests that have been raised from Rotorua and giving the Waikato Hospital Board a lease- on the terms mentioned. The Waikato Hospital Board, of course, has been forced by the department to take over the institution and its responsibilities and it cannot be blamed for endeavouring to make the best of a bad job, but the people of Rotorua are entitled to demand a sufficient and efficient hospital and to ensure that the facilities which they at present enjoy are not in any way infringed by the changeover.