INFECTIOUS DISEASES HOSPITAL.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXIX, Issue 8304, 6 December 1906, Page 5

INFECTIOUS DISEASES HOSPITAL.

QUESTION OF SITES AND RESPONSIBILITY

At the meeting of the VVairarapa District Hospital Board, yesterday,, the secretary (Mr b. G. MoDre) sub mitted the following report; on the question of sites auu tor providing for lufeo ;ious Diseases Hospitals:—Under the 'provisions of saotion .4 (1) of "The Pnblio Health Amendment Aot 1903" the duty of providing and maintaining H»spitals for the reception and treatment of Infeotious Diseases was transferred irom Local Authorities to Dißtriot Hospitals Boards. The seotiona of the original Aot (i 3 to 36 of 1900) oroviding for the prevention of infeotious diseasea.olothe the District Health Officer with large powers, ipter alia (section 17) to direct the Board what bo reaouimends to be done, and the reason why it should be done. It is tha duty.of .tine Board to faithfully oomply with the recommendation with all possible despatch, and if it falls or negleuts to du so, *.he District Health Officer is empowered to cense the work to ba done at thß expanse in all things of "the defaulting Board. If the probable cost of any work to be done under this power exceeds £2OO, the approval of the Minister must :ba obtained. This limitation of toe power of übe District Health Officer appears to be removed by the Aot of 1903, saotion 6 nt which provides as follows: "Where any Hospital Board fails within a reasonable tine to provide, eqnip, or maintain any snob Hospital that is certified- by. the Ohief Health Officer to oe necessary—the Chief Health Officer may himself oause to bo done such things aa are necessary in order to oarry the provisions of sections 37 and 38 of the principal Act into'effect, and the cost of so doing may be recovered by him from the Hospital Board aa a debt due to the Crown, and failing reoovery from such Board ma 7in like manner be recovered from the coutributpry Local Authorities." The Assistant Ohief Health Officer has certified to the neoeasity for erecting lufeo• tious Diseases Hospitals la ■Grey-' twon, Masterton,, and Patiiatua. The position of the Greytowu Hoapital is somewhat different from that of the other two, inasmuch as the Trustees of the South VVairarapa Hospital seoured a grant of £SOO towards the oosfc of erecting a Hospital of this nature a* - . Greyto»»n. Having requisitioned the Board for the balanoe of cost (£l50) they proceeded, on their own initiative, to ereot the building oa about two acres of land belonging to the Greytown Trust Lands Trust. The attention of the Trustees having been directed to the iaot that neither they nor the Board had any title to the land on which, they were erects log the building, a Bill was promoted enabling the Grey town Trust Lands Trust to convey the land in question to the Board upon Trust for lofeotious Disease Hospital purposes, subjeot to th 9 condition that should the land, at nuy time hereafter, cease to be required for this speoial purpose, it can only be re conveyed td the Truat Lands Trust. This Bill baa become law, and it now remains for tha Board to secure the title from the Trust Lands Trust. The position of the Masterton and Pahiatua: Hospitals is identical. The proposal made iu each case is that the Board shall ereot the Infpctioui Diseasea Hospitals on the land held respectively in Trust' by the Trustees of the Masterton and Pahiatua Hospitals—to which, of course, th« Board has no title. The attention of the Member for the District was speoi- , ally directed to this difficulty by' memoranda dated the 7th and 21s*j September last, and it waa then sugesied that if the Publio Health Aat were amended so as to impose too duty of providing aod maintaining Hospital* for the reception and treatment of infeotious cases on the Trustees of separate institutions where such aro iu exiafcenoe, the difficulty would be completely overcome. The District Health Offioer was oommunioated with to the like effect on the 23rd of October, yet, these representations notwithstanding, and although there was an amending Bill before tha House', no steps were taken in the direction of giving effect to the sug. gestion. If.the Board should der cide to build on land vested in the Hospital Trustee?, the position will , be that, should any friction arise between the Board and the Trust, and the latter body choose to exercise its legal rights, the Board might find itself compelled to make a fresh levy for the purpose of constructing a no* building. The contingency is, no doubt,"a remote one; but should, it over arise the Board would no doubt be taken severely to task for having expended the means at its disposal id , ereotiog Hospitals on landa to wb'ioh it has no title whatever. So far aa funds are conoemod, the Board is now in a position to proceed with the ereation of the Hospitals in question, as the balance _ of to© levy will be collected'before these oould be ready for oooupation, but in view of the difficulty with regard to the title to the land, it would be perhaps well if the Board will seek legal advice on the subject. The Board deoided "that the Chairman and Secretary and the members for the Pahiatua, Masterton and Wairarapa districts should form a deputation to wait on the, Minister of Publio Health and ex.* tract from him a promise to introduce legislation that will transfer the responsibility of providing for infectious diseases hospitals from the District Hospital Boards to the Hospital Trustees, where too latter manage the hospitals."