The Daily News TUESDAY, AUGUST 18. HOSPITALS AND CHARITY TREATMENT.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LI, Issue 204, 18 August 1908, Page 2

The Daily News TUESDAY, AUGUST 18. HOSPITALS AND CHARITY TREATMENT.

A conference of extreme importance to the successful work of the iaranaiii hospitals is to ;be held in ilawera today. when tlie superintendents of the Acw ll'iymoutii, Stratford, and Ilawe'.'r hospitals respectively, and Uie lioal'L-, will consider' schemes eiiieily touching the question of patients' payments, liroadly, the principal subject—leaving the relationship of the respective Boards out of the i[uesti<in — at issue is that the hospitals, particularly New I'lyinouth. which lias a highly skilled honorary stall in addition to the superintendent and the assistant superintendent, are becoming so popular with those who have the misfortune to require medical attention and skilled nursing, that the private practices of doctors are being, or arc likely to be, all'eeteil. It is presumably, though nut directly, assumed -that persons of means, who could well afford to pay for private treatment in private institutions, are availing themselves of the low fees charged at the public hospitals. The question is, without doubt, a serious one, and there is a good (leal to be said on both sides, but we cannot for a moment subscribe .to the doctrine that any person, be lie as wealthy as Croesus, is necessarily an acceptor of c harity liecause he chooses to avail himself ot the skilled attention provided in our pub'.ic hospitals.

There is no charity dispensed in pub ic hospitals, the main upkeep of which is u direct charge on the people through rites and the Consolidated Funds. Further, 110 matter what any Commission might have found to the contrary, we challenge the right of any Board or medical man to refuse admittance to a public hospital, especially to a resident in the particular hospital district, if lie chooses, for personal reasons, whatever they might be, to enter the public institution. In so saying we are not for a moment unmindful of the splendid scr vices rendered the public by the retained and the honorary stall' of the hospital, whose devotion to duty—oftentimes self-imposed—has been the strongest incentive .to popularising the local hospital with suffering humanity. Faith ill the curative abilities of the combined staff of the local hospital is an accepted tenet throughout this province, and no higher tribute to the value of the institution could be given, although—unfortunately for the local doctors —they, may, in contributing to this success, have subscribed to their individual monetary loss. It cannot but be admitted, however, that there is also sonic measure of fairness in asking that those in a position to pay should be charged for the full cost of their maintenance in the hospitals. If, for instance, it costs on an average £2 2s to 13 5s to maintain patients at New Plymouth, it is unfair to the ratepayers, and unfair also to the medical stall', that the Board should only charge 4s per diem. We would, therefore, favor the raising of the maximum charge to a sum sufficient to cover, at the'lowest, the average cost of maintenance, and particularly in ail cases which are a charge oil outside districts. Such a charge iho.v.! in a position to pay would as cheerfully meet as they would the present inadequate fee.

To what extent the suggestion that doctors should practically be allowed a private practice within the institution we are not at present in a position to say, pending fuller details, but the suggestion does not appeal to us as a deiiio cratic one. There should not, however, be any objection to the proposal tint welt-circumstanced patients desirous of obtaining the special attention of medical men acting on the honorary staff should be charged by tile doctors for that attention, always assuming that the honorary stall' as willingly give their services and skill to alleviating the sufferings of those not in a position to pay for their services. And this brings us to the point that the doctors generally overlook—thatf>although many of them give their services .gratis, s'o far as monetary emolument is concerned, they are considerable gainers, in their profession, in having open -access to public hospitals, to which ace attracted for treatment ailments of tne widest diversity. No medical man wou.d wish to bo denied true aoccss to the public hospitals, where he may stud}, under the most favorable condition's, with the most up-to-date surgical aii.l medical appliances at his hand, easct which interest him and advance liini iu lie- practice of his profession. Mutual lr"t,"lits are derived from the present sysieni, although no doubt the snU'eiing public .ire the greatest gamers.

Without desiring to enlarge on this aspect of tin- conference's programme, we cannot refrain from expressing unqualilied disapproval of the i'charity" proposals put forward by .the. superintendent of the Stratford Hospital. Dr. Paget evidently has but .an impcrt'e.'t appreciation of the objects of a public hospital, which he. evidently regards ah provided for the. use only of the wholly indigent. There are many other important subjects to be considered at th • conference, not the least of which 's . the scheme submitted by Dr. Valintine for centralisation, the operation of which would make New Plymouth Hospital the "basts" or principal hospital for Taranaki; but the subject is too wide a one to Ire fully dealt with on this occasion. The question of charges is the one that mainlv interests the public, and it is to bo hoped that any changes that may be • decided on for recommendation to the various Boards should, while dealing fairly with the medical men, not for a moment overlook the most important feature, that the hospitals are provided at public .ex pense for public use. The regulations must never for a moment be such that a person unhappily laid aside by sickness need feel the slightest sense of shame or humiliation in accepting the services of the hospital, l'or which he luis paid in advance through taxation.