CROWDED HOSPITAL

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 412, 21 July 1928, Page 13

CROWDED HOSPITAL

MR, M. J. SAVAGE VOICES CONCERN SPEEDING UP DESIRED (THE SUN'S Parliamentary Reporter.) WELLINGTON, Friday. Concern at the crowded condition of the Auckland Hospital infectious diseases section was expressed by Mr. M. J. Savage, himself a member of the Hospital Board, in the House this afternoon. Quoting fi*>m a Press report, Mr. Savage pointed out that while the infectious block had accommodation for only 85, there were actually 122 patients now crowded into it. This state of affairs introduced grave danger of cross infection. Accordingly it was desirable that all obstacles in the way of erection of the new infectious diseases block should be cleared as soon as possible.

The Minister, the Hon. J. A.. Young, said that unfortunately there were still points undecided, between the board and the department, with regard to the erection of the new block. One point was the cost of the block, and the other the site; but he promised to do his utmost to sfe.e that finality was reached at an early date. Many of the patients now in the hospital, he pointed out, were scarlet fever patients, and in the opinion of leading English doctors it was just as practicable to treat these people in their homes.

NEW BLOCK IN SIGHT

ADVICE FROM MINISTER SITE STILL IN DISPUTE In reply to a telegram dispatched yesterday, the Minister of Health, the Hon. J. A. Young, has advised the Auckland Hospital Board that ,in view of the serious lack of infectious diseases accommodation here, he has instructed the Director-General of Health, Dr. T. A. Valentine, to confer with the chairman of the board immediately in an endeavour to finalise arrangements for the construction of the new infectious diseases block.

The question of the site for the new block has not been agreed upon, however, and this will be one of the first things to be discussed by the board’s chairman, Mr. Win. Wallace, and Dr. Valentine.

The ’ board insists upon having the block within the infectious diseases area, while the latest advice from Dr. Valentine indicated his desire to have it placed in the Domain near the T.B. shelters.

No contract can be signed before the end of the year, and the structure will then occupy six months in erection.