HOSPITAL AFFAIRS.

Taranaki Daily News, 25 October 1919, Page 7

HOSPITAL AFFAIRS.

(To the Editor.) Sir,—ln your issue of the 18th. Inst., the Taronnki Hospital Board charges me with making misleading statements at a public meeting at Opunako regarding hospital affairs. i am charged with making five such statements numbered 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5. I again repeat No. 1 alleged, mistatement, and I hereby challenge tho board to prove that it untrue, namely, that at the present time there -Is neither hospital nor shelter of any kind in the county where the sick can be attended to. The nurse referred to by the board left here about four months ago, and no other nurse has arrived up to date. Tho suite of rooms said to be rented by the board for the nurse consists of two rooms in a cottage, the remaining rooms of which are occupied by a family. I wonder where the nurse will put her patients? No, 2 charge, I also repeat that it cannot be disproved. lam aware'that 204 patients from Egmont were admitted to New Plymouth Hospital last year, epidemic year, but I am informed that they were charged 7s per day while in the hospital, so the board, as usual, did not lose much. No. 3 charge.—What I have stated in this regard is also practically correct, as the following statement proves: At the board meeting last month the secretary read a eppv of a letter which he sent to Mr. Wilkinson, M.P., who had then obtained the promise of a servo at Opunako for ua from the Government on which our hospital will probably be I'ullt. The letter, contained the -blowing paragraph: "That while the board was not in favor of the Opunako portion of tho district forming n district of Its own or merging into any other district, and if tho grant of land was solely for the erection of a district pursing building the board thoroughly endorsed the application." So that the board will only allow us a "nursing building," not even a cottage hospital, nor will the board allow us to join any other hospital district. This Is indeed riding the high horse. Sir, can you inform me wha •.» parsing building really is? I have been told that it v a building in which a woman attends to babies while their mothers are at work in factories in the big cities. Charge No. 4.—My information on that matter was obtained in strict cunfldence, and I pre Per to believe; my informant rather than tho Board. The board cannot deny that it refused to accommodate old people fr:£n Hawera and Stratford districts on the grounds that the New Plymouth home could not accommodate them.

Charge No. s.—The board refuses to give tven part of a nurse's salary. This was also true when I made it. When the Revs. Strand and Palmer, chairman and secretary respectively, of our Nursing Associa : tion, Interviewed the board re obtaining a nurse for Opunake the chairman of the board asked how much the public of Opunake would subscribe thereto. The board then refused to give anything, and the rev. gentlemen returned home thoroughly disheartened. Mr. S. Campbell, ono of our representatives on the Board, stated at ft recent me»twg of the board that Opunake paid Its quota n.r.u got nothing in return. Sir. Editor, it would appear that I have three accomplices In nectlon with the charges laid against namely, Mr. Campbell, and the Hers. Strand and Palmer. It seems to lie a joint offence, arid I now demand that ihe names of these gentlemen be added to the information laid against me. I consider that these rewend gentlemen should also be brought to book. If they arc not, I shall not respect the sentence of the court if passed upon me. If wo do get a nurse the hoard \fiJt collar her fees* and out of the fees her salary will be paid. The board will also collect the Native department's quota ulrtady guaranteed, so that 1 guess the board won't lose much on the' transaction. It's all fish that to the board's net, The board considers what Is sufficient for Uruti Is quite adequate for the populous and prosperous county of Kgmout, whero at present there is £57,(100 about to be expended on harbor and electric light and power works. The county js also arranging for the expenditure of £150,000 for tar-sealing roads, and the erection of an electric power line from New Plymouth. This means a large increase in our population, and yet our people are denied me » rdinary convenience and provisions required to meet olekness or accidents. If the board per' formed the function with which it is charged In o honest- businesslike manner it would at once erect a public hospital at Opunake, and, if upon examination it were found necessary, our present contribution could be increased, and no reasonable person here would object. But no. board hangs on like grim death to Its ill-gotten gains, one utterly disregards its duty. However, a moro enlightcd body, namely, the new i\n i * liament, when elected and assembled v.ill be appealed to, which we trust will grant m relief from the present Intolerable position When a public body abuses its privileges and reglects its responsibilities its reign is usually short. Apologising sir, for my long letter, —I am, etc., M. O'BRIEN, Opunake, Oct. 20, 1919.