Decline of Tuberculosis

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 418, 28 July 1928, Page 5

Decline of Tuberculosis

Experts Review Dominion’s Needs

Accommodation the Gravest Problem (THE SUN'S Parliamentary Reporter.l WELLINGTON, Friday. rIAT tuberculosis in New Zealand is not a grave national menace is the cheering final word of the committee consisting of Dr. Frank Fitchett, Dr. D. Eardley Fenwicke, and Dr. T. W. J. Johnston, whose report on tuberculosis treatment in the Dominion was presented to the House of Representatives to-day. The incidence of the disease was steadily declining in the Dominion, according to the committee, it being rarely found among school children, while the only really serious lack in the methods of treatment is the deficiency in accommodation for chronic cases.

“Superficially,” _says the report, “it would appear thalt incidence of disease is more pronounced in the South than in the North, and more in Canterbury and Otago than in Auckland and Wellington. However, this is discounted by the fact that in both Christchurch and Dunedin are wellorganised tuberculosis dispensaries, which lead to a greater readiness of sufferers to notify, and quickened interest on the part of the medical profession. Moreover, the death rate in Otago and Canterbury is so low as to remove the suspicion that the incidence there is higher, the death rate in Canterbury in fact being, with Auckland, the lowest in the Dominion. Discussing accommodation, the committee says that more accommodation for chronic cases is urgently wanted in Christchurch, where 18 advanced male cases should be removed from the Dower Cashmere sanatorium, while I*4 should be removed from Upper Cashmere. In addition, Christchurch appears to possess many advanced cases now treated at home, that should be in a chronic hospital. Wellington also is embarrassed, while in Auckland, another city where many are being treated in their own homes, accommodation is taxed to the uttermost.

A grave feature noted is the lack of sufficient accommodation for female cases in the North Island, while sanatorium accommodation in the South Island generally is inadequate both for males and females. At Cashmere there is a waiting list of 13, the first on the list having waited three months. General hospitals in large cities are not being used to the best advantage, as none has suitable special accom-

modation; furthermore, hospital boards exhibit a disinclination to admit tuberculosis patients, a policy they might reasonably modify. It is much to be regretted, continues the report, that other large centres of population have not followed Dunedin and Christchurch in the establishment of tuberculosis dispensaries, which are really essential. Touching on improvements desirable in the existing system, it is pointed out that Pukeora is the only sanatorium approaching what now is thought to be the best type. A separate tuberculosis division should be established in the Health Department, with a separate director. Care committees, consisting of voluntary workers, should be set up to work with hospital boards in aiding the sufferers. In Auckland the chairman of the Hospital Board appeared to favour a North Island pooling scheme, involving a central sanatorium at Waimarino, but the committee disapproves of any pooling scheme, proposing to scrap such excellent institutions as Pukeora and Otaki. The pooling scheme is a policy for the future. The next North Island sanatorium should be erected in the Auckland Province and supported by adjacent hospital boards.

Of the work of associated boards in the South Island, the committee has nothing but the highest praise, and cannot comprehend Otago’s attitude in standing out. It believes th© routine use of tuberculin serum should be discontinued at Cashmere and Waipiata, which al-e hardly being used to the best advantage, but the Coronation Hospital, Christchurch, is Selected for special praise.