INFECTIOUS DISEASES

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 361, 23 May 1928, Page 12

INFECTIOUS DISEASES

NEW BUILDING NEEDED DEPUTATION TO MINISTER “I fully realise the nece.: for some increased accommocL . cm," said the Minister of Health, the Hon. J. A. Young, yesterday, after hearing a deputation from the Auckland Hospital Board regarding a new infectious diseases block. Members of the deputation, comprising Mr. W. Wallace, chairman of the Board, and Messrs. J. Rowe and M. J. Savage, board members, pointed out the serious position, rapidly becoming worse, because of restricted accommodation. They asked for favourable consideration of the proposal to erect a new building. The Minister intimated that, on his return to Wellington, be would confer with the director-general, Dr. T. 11. A. Valintine. It had been suggested, said the board’s secretary, Mr. 11. A. Sommerville, this morning, that comparative costs might influence the Minister’s opinion. It was quite true that at Bottle Lake Infectious Diseases Hospital in Christchurch, costs were estimated at £lB6 a bed, while the Auckland scheme would cost £6BO a bed, assuming that there were 54 beds. “It must be remembered, however,” continued Mr. Sommerville, “that since the estimate referred to lias been made the estimated cost of the building lias been reduced to £33,500, £5,500 less than the original figure. It must also bo remembered that the Christchurch building is constructed in wood and poilite, whereas we would build for the future. We recognise that the infectious diseases wards will some day have to be shifted far from the hospital block, and so we plan to construct a building that can eventually be used