Lae Hospital Is A

Disgrace To Australia

RSSAILA President and Local Residents Condemn It

From Our Own Correspondent LAE, April 3.

HOWEVER strong the statements made by Mr. Geo. Holland, Federal presi dent of the RSSAILA. after his in spection of the European hospital, Lae, his words do not adequately cover the present position.

Prom the time one enters the front of the buildings until departing through the back entrance, the whole place presents a most depressing sight. Admittedly, the X-Ray, Pathological, and operating theatre rooms, not forgetting the Mor tuary, are quite presentable, and moderately new, but the remainder can not be too strongly condemned. The set up of the buildings—relics of war days—is against decent conditions, and the kit chen, where meals are cooked and pre pared for serving to patients, is opposite

After a visit to Lae Hospital. New Guinea, the Federal President of the RSSAILA, who was makng a short tour of Papua-New Guinea, said that he was shocked and revolted that such deplorable conditions should exist in a territory ad ministered by Australia.

It was scandalous that Europeans should be hospitalised in such crude and unsanitary quarters.

He said that at Lae Hosptal they saw open drains and primitive arrangements within a few feet of kitchens in which flies swarmed.

Medical and nursing staff were doing magnificent work under conditions far worse than those in any frontline hospi tal.

Thin paper walls separated the wards giving no privacy. Even the labour ward was in no way sound-proofed.

the men’s lavatories and bathroom, with only a wood-shed between. An inspection of the conveniences mentioned shows that the floor of the bathroom is slimy, with shower roses conspicuous by their ab sence. In the middle of the room stands a bath which is so semi-detached that if it is touched on one side, it immediately upsets. There is a repulsive odour per meating the place.

Separated only by galvanised iron is the nurses’ retiring room, and this fact is a source of embarrassment to patients and nurses alike. The drainage from the shower rooms is not sufficient to keep a continual clearance of water.

The nurses’ quarters, alongside, although tidy, are definitely inadequate for the comfort of those off-duty, and the facili ties provided them for personal washing could be considered a disgrace.

But it is when one enters the wards that the futility of the set-up is apparent.

The male ward caters for both Europeans and Asiatics, and this in itself is em barrassing to all. A separate hospital for natives has been established at Malahang, but Authority says that any person who lived as a European is considered a fit and proper person to be admitted to the European hospital. Cosequently, it is quite open for a native to be admitted be cause he knows how to use a knife and fork.

A very senior Administrative Official in Lae, who was recently a patient at the Lae Hospital, stated publicly that he re sented the necessity for European nurses to be at the beck and call of what he described as “near natives”; the common use by all of eating utensils, and the use of all conveniences in common. He

specially asked that he be permitted to leave hospital, as the whole atmosphere was objectionable to him.

Similar conditions exist in the female wards and maternity wards, and in confinement cases there is only a “paper wall” between the “labour” room and the outside public, who may be attending for treatment or consultation.

Mr. Spender, when in Lae, expressed his feelings after his inspection and promised us a change, but the position, after nearly

12 months, remains unchanged. The so called “priority” for the new Hospital has become the joke of the district, but the matter is so serious that nothing but im mediate action can suffice. The site of the new hospital has been selected and it only remains for tenders to be called and the work to be put in hand, At the same time provision must be made for the segregation of the Asiatic patients, and the provision of trained Asiatic nurses to attend to their needs.