COST OF HOSPITALS.

Taranaki Daily News, 9 June 1920, Page 5

COST OF HOSPITALS.

THE NEW PLYMOUTH LEVY. EGMONT COUNCIL'S VIEWS. HIGHER FEES SUGGESTED. Further discuasion on hospital matters took place at the meeting of the Kgmont County Council at Opunake yesterday. The subject was introduced by a letter from the Taranaki County Council inviting the Council to send representatives to a conference of local bodies to be held in New Plymouth today to discuss the question of the increased levy.

Cr. O'Brien said that it had been reported in the Press that the Council's representative on the Hospital Board had stated that there were only one or two members on the Council who objected to the increased levy.

Tho chairman said that tho Council had been practically unanimous: on tho question. He thought that the Council should fix the maximum amount they were prepared to pay to the New Plymouth Board, and if that amount was exceeded they should secede from New Plymouth. There was a loss of 3s (!y 2 d per day on each patient treated, and if this went on the levy might easily be 3d or 8d more. Tho chairman said that he did not blame the New Plymouth Hospital Board, as it Was not responsible for the rise in the cost of expenditure, but it should charge higher fees and discourage people from coining into the hospital. He favored a system proposed in Christchurch, viz., to divide the hospital into two sections, one open to all as at present, and the other open to those able to pay full fees, where they could also, if they wished, have their own doctor.

Cr. Campbell thought that the doing away of private hospitals ■ would overcome the difficulty, ag people with "powder and shot" were sent into private hospitals, whereas if they went to public hospitals and paid full fees it would reduce the cost to local bodies.

Cr. O'Brien strongly objected to a revaluation of the land being urged. Cr. Young said he was prepared to stand by a revaluation. They now had a liability of £113,000, and" in three months it would be up to the limit. Cr. Green thought the principle of making the levy was wrong, and other ways of providing the money should be made.

Cr. O'Brien said that secession from New Plymouth would come, and it was in- the interests of the ratepayers to allow it to come. Later, a letter was read from the sec retary of the Hospital Board stating that the average cost per occupied bed per day for the year ending March 31st last was 9s (id, compared with some thing like 6s before the war. The increased cost during this period wa* something like 100 per cent, in the ord> inary things of life; and in drugs, dressings, and surgical requirements even more.

The letter added: "The Hospital an<| Charitable Institutions Act will not all low my Board to have a bank over, draft over the amount receivable from the local bodies and Government sub. sidiea unpaid. Therefore that source of meeting expenditure temporarily is very limited and my Finance Committee have frequently been in the position of n"t knowing how to meet current accounts, The working of a hospital is such that you have to be prepared for any posi' tion which may arise, such ns ft wave of infectious 1 disease, etc. Mv Board resognises that the amount of the levy is large this year, compared with previous years, but believes that your Council must recognise that the increased cost of things is the direct cause of such, and is bevond our con' trol."