CHILDREN IN HOSPITAL.

Taranaki Daily News, 16 February 1922, Page 6

CHILDREN IN HOSPITAL.

DECREASE IN NUMBERS. THE SUGGESTED REASON. “I notice there ie a decrease in the number of children in hospital last month, there being only 22, as compared with 40 in December,” observed Mr. S. Vickers at yesterday’s meeting of the Taranaki Hospital Board. He asked if the chairman could explain this satisfactory decrease. Mr. Fraser, in the course of his reply, said that for the last four or five months there had never been than 40 children, chiefly suffering from infectious diseases, and adenoids, in hospital, .but it was a remarkable fact that during the holidays the children admitted numbered 18. or a total of 24, including those had been there some time. Thus there was a fall of over 50 per cent, during the school holidays, as the majority of the children were of -school age. This was one way, at least, which could be pointed out to the Friendly Societies of diminishing the number of patients. The speaker said he would like the school committees to take notice of what had been said, and they might give* some explanation. On hot days in schools the temperature was somewhere between 75 and 80 degrees. Why the children were kept inside the school all the school hours he could, not under- 5 stand. In England a system of open-air schools had been successfully operated, but no attempt had been made to operate the system here. He personally was not dictating to the school committees, but the public should see to it that, in the hot weather, the children should get the advantages of the open air. He trusted the school boards would take notice.