The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1856-1888, 1875-05-08
HOSPITALS FOR THE PEOPLE.

HOSPITALS FOR THE PEOPLE.
The letter Of our correspondent e Maui - which
will be found below, reopens the discussion of a
project which has often been considered in past
years, but the undertaking Of which has been
pronounced-on insufficient grounds, as We have
always held-to be impracticable, and the object
declared unattainable- We mean the project of
establishing hospitals for the people on each ISL
and Of the group. In no other way can the sani-
tary needs Of the people be properly and thor
oughly supplied, and until we have such hospitals,
a very small part only Of our duty will have been
performed towards the INDECENT and ignorant sick
and suffering Of the native race. Those who have
resided here any length of time and who know
the history of that excellent institution the
Queen : Hospital in is early days, will mem
how slowly it grew into favor with the natives,
how that the sick had TO be coaxed to enter it's
portals, and that years elapsed before they learned
to repose any real faith in the medicines and
treatment Of the foreigner. Now, however, a
great change has become evident in this regard.
The people generally arc not only favorable to
the practice of foreign doctors but,-aside from a
brief reaction two or three years ago in favor of
the kGhundS of their own race-they are ready
III eager u dfdl lutHleCIhSc u III VI
the travelling physicians provided by the Govern
ment. And it is in looking after the health of
the people in the remote districts that the work
of preserving the nation, and its cooperation
the h0Oulu LdhuI-is to be done, if done at all.
1t is in those districts where the natives gather in
families, and where the children are born, that
keep up the supply of population in Honolulu
the sink it may be added, into which there are
drawn and disappear. Numbers of the people,
after contracting diseases in the metropolis and
other centres of population, retire again to their
original homes, there to sicken and die. 1t will
be readily perceived that our one hospital located
at Honolulu, which can only be reached from
remote districts after a considerable journey by
water and exposure in crossing boisterous chan
nels, is entirely inadequate to meet the needs of
the sick Of the nation, and especially the poor,
who constitute the large majority,I But the es-
adjustment of a hospital and dispensary on each
island, under the charge Of the travelling physi-
clans now provided by the Government, would go
a great way towards alternating much misery that
is now neglected, and might be the means of
saving many valuable lives. 1t is in fact the one
sanitary measure now most needed.
Heretofore, whenever the question has been
mooted of establishing hospitals outside of Homo
lulu, the ready and most obvious objection was
that there were no funds for the purpose at the
disposal of the Boapi of Health. In the present
instance however, as stated by our correspondent,
there are no financial difficulties in the way the
inhabitants of East Maui are prepared to meet all
the necessary expenses, and all that is asked is
the sanction of the Board in order to go on and
ogEakI,sI tLo I,g~SkI III Iaka,lo a~I Tho naro
of the institution will, as we understand, be
under the direction of DR.. Enders, the Govern
ment physician of Maui; and we cannot for a
moment suppose that any objection will be made
by the authorities here to SO praiseworthy an
enterprise, but believe that, on the contrary,
every encouragement and facility will be promptly
afforded
To the Editor Of the Pacific Commercial Advertiser
While, in common with the rest of mankind "
on the islands, the denizens of Maui are rejoicing
over the success that has attended the labors of the
treaty Commissioners at Washington, we are natu-
rally curious to know in what manner this Govern
ment propose to make up the deficit in the revenue
arising from the remission of duties on American
goods. No doubt we are premature in asking the
question, but then you know we have but little else
to talk about. Another question suggests itself il
discussing the immediate future of the islands, and
that is. what provision is to be made for the care Of
the people. in a sanitary point of view, that will be
an Improvement on the present system?
Not that we think that the Board of Health does
not conduct its operations wisely and well; but many
think that the present necessity that exists for send
ing a certain class of patients to Honolulu for med
ical treatment entails an expense, and certainly
involves a loss of time. that might in q great measure
be spared by establishing hospitals on the different
islands, to which these cases might be sent for treat
ment at the hands of the district physicians.
In Wailuku, for instance, the resident physician
could receive cases from all around him, have the
patients under his eye at all times, cure them up,
I'd. W and return them to their homes, or employers
in a much shorter space of time, and at a less ex-
pense than would be incurred by sending them to
Honolulu.
\ large number Of cases treated in the vicinity of
sugar plantations, are those of parties working for
the planters. Very naturally. you will parenthesize,
as the planters employ the greater part of the native,
Chinese and japanese population. True; and the
cost Of local treatment in the majority Of plantation
cases would be in a great part betrayed by the
planters.
\ mans time is worth money; and if the employer
can get a sick man well again and back to his work
quicker by sending him to a local hospital, than by
having him go to Honolulu to be cured, he will do it.
Your correspondent knows that an effort has been
made to establish a hospital in Waikiki, and the
feasibility of the plan has been already demonstrated
to him by those who know Of what they speak.
This idea is not one, the carrying out of which
would be a drain on the resources of the Board of
Health. No money is asked for; and such being the
case it would seem as though the experiment is one
well worth trying.
We are having plenty of rain; and it would seem
as though the summer that has opened so propitiously
for M IN q political sansa proDisaS 70 ha fruitfnI