HOSPITAL WANTED

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 896, 13 February 1930, Page 13

HOSPITAL WANTED

TE AROHA PROPOSAL j DEPUTATION TO BOARD From. Our Own Correspondent < HAMILTON, Today. j For some years the need for a j public hospital at Te Aroha has been recognised. , Today a deputation headed by Mr. R. H. Coulter, Mayor of Te Aroha, waited on the Waikato Hospital Board with the proposal that it purchase Norana Private Hospital, now offered for sale. He emphasised the great inconvenience and lack of accommodation for maternity and emergency accident cases in the town. Norana Hospital was a fine modern building, approved by tlje Health Department. Mr. Campbell Johnstone, the chairman, favoured the proposal providing Te Aroha people were prepared to assist financially. Supporting the scheme, Mr. W. R. Lowry said the Piako County Council paid an enormous amount annually toward the upkeep of the Waikato Hospital, but the ratepayers received no direct benefit. The provision of a public hospital at Te Aroha, specially for maternity cases was an urgent necessity. The population of the town and district was increasing rapidly. The board went into committee to discuss details regarding the proposal. Dr. M. M. Hockin, medical superintendent, reported that Health Department officials had spoken to him regarding the policy to be adopted regarding training nurses for maternity and midwifery certificates in the new maternity ward at the hospital now in course of erection. It was stated that nurses, as a result of the proposed policy of the department, would lose a certain amount of pay, and their training would be in vain. The doctor was instructed to protest to the department and to point out the necessity for the new maternity ward being a school for training nurses for midwifery certificates, in addition to maternity cases. Later, the question was referred to the House and Finance Committee to collect data.