THE OTAKI HOSPITAL.

Shannon News, 27 August 1926, Page 4

THE OTAKI HOSPITAL.

—♦ :—• SHOULD IT BE CLOSED. i ‘‘FaVr Play” Avritcs to tHe ‘‘Manawatu Times" as follows: “Sir—As the case of the Otaki Hospital was discussed at length by the local Chambers of Commerce and Borough Councils recently and resolutions passed in favour of its being closed, I crave a few inches of your - space to place the Otaki residents’ side of the question before your readers, and confidently leave it to their sense of' fairness, as to who is in the , right. The 'explanation given and the motion passed by the Foxton Chamber of Commerce (as appearihg in the press) needs correction. The Horowhenuu County and the Boroughs withiii its ■ boundaries contribute annually the sum of roughly £4OOO. With this goes ■ the Government subsidy of fourteen shillings in the pound, making a total of over £7OOO per year. For this large sum, we have received a very small return, in the way of Hospital facilities, the Otaki Hospital being starved for equipment. A sum of not more than £I4OO per annum is being span* in its maintenance. The climax was reached when the P.JNT.H.B. suddenly decided to close this institution altogether, and refused to admit a man suffering from a circular saw accident, and condemned him to a forty-five mile journey over ' rough roads- in the middle of winter. ; This man suffered hours of severe pain 1 unnecessarily. This case of callousness opened the. eyes and understanding of the ten thousand residents of the district as to what they, must be prepared to undergo, should they be unfortunate enough to require the’services of a hospital. Mr. Hornblow’s ".statement.," that the whole of the hospital district would be taxed to give preferential treatment to ‘Otaki’ is such-, a glaring misrepresentation of facts, that I can only ask your readers, Mr. Editor, to remember that we give £7OOO, and receive £I4OO, the balance of £5600 going towards the maintenance of the P.N. Hospital, If the Minister of Health decides to close the Otaki Hospital it would leave this rapidly growing district without hospital facilities, and thus cause country people unnecessary suffering, and in some cases perhaps loss of life, through this cruel and inhuman ' policy of the P.N.H.B. I should also like to mention the difficulties and expense Otaki residents will incur to P.N. to visit their sick rc- . latives and friends. It is also worthy of mention, Mr. Editor, that at the ■ last meeting of the P. N. Chamber of Commerce it was decided to approach the Managing Secretary of the Hospital with a view to having an ambulance stationed in the centre of the town owing, to'the delay caused in the past through having to wait whilst this vehicle comes from the hospital and so necessitating a journey of a mile. This, sir, following on the Chamber’s resolution applauding the Hospital Board’s policy of sending an ambulance one hundred miles return journey to pick up any unfortunate ‘Cookie” who \ may be in need of hospital accommodation. I could fill columns with our side.of the question, but T leave to the fairmindedness of your readers to judge whether our request to keep open and .bring up to date the Otaki llospital jse'ems unreasonable. ’ ’