EPIDEMICS AND COSTS

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 650, 30 April 1929, Page 6

EPIDEMICS AND COSTS

TWO HOSPITAL PROBLEMS DR. GUNSON’S ADDRESS Maintenance costs and the lack of machinery to deal instantly with any epidemic were two of the subjects dealt with last evening by Dr. E. B. Gunson in his address at the Lewis Eady Hall last evening, when dealing with hospital affairs. j Dr. Gunson is a candidate lor a posij tion on the Hospital Board at the | municipal elections on Wednesday. He j said it was important that there j should be the medical men to advise I the board on the question of costs. A ! short account of the hospital expenditure had appeared in the newspapers I recently. The hoard had anticipated an increase of some £B,OOO in maintenance charges during the coming year, but no indication of detailed expenditure had ever been placed before the public. “It would be highly desirable to know what the various departments are costing,” said the doctor. “I hope when medical men are elected to the board they will be able to indicate improvements without any appreciable costs to the public. The operating costs must be looked to seriously. There have been no listing costs of the various departments.” Dr. Gunson continued that there should be machinery available to enable the medical superintendent to deal with any epidemic when that particular epidemic came within the jurisdiction of the board. The recent instance on the Maui Pomare had been a glaring example of the board’s lack of policy. In a well-ordered institution the machinery would have been available to enable the medical superintendent immediately to arrange for the disposal of the Maui Pomare’s patients. As it was they were allowed to remain in want of adequate medical and nursing care and to constitute a serious menace to the whole community. It was only after the Government ] had intervened, through the Auckland Health Department, at the instigation . of the Governor-General, that the ! board was moved to act. ! It was a deplorable state of affairs and the speaker said he was not sur- i prised at it. .