1921

With the exception of such vaccines, e.g., influenza vaccine and autogenous vaccines, as are manufactured by the various Government Bacteriologists and can be obtained therefrom, the Department of Health has arranged to undertake the agency for New Zealand of the Commonwealth Serum Laboratories, whose product it has been carrying and distributing through the Hospital Boards for some time past. These products are obtainable, therefore, only through the Health Department, but to facilitate their distribution the Department has arranged to supply Hospital Boards therewith, from whom medical practitioners can obtain their supplies at the prices set out in the printed price list issued by the Commonwealth Laboratories. Medical practitioners requiring these products should apply to the Boards of their districts therefore, and if the Boards have not the sera in stock, then it can be supplied by the Department. Medical men should, however, avoid making it a practice of applying to the Department instead of to the Hospital Board, with the exception of those in the Wellington hospital district, who can be supplied by the head office of the Health Department instead of by the Wellington Hospital Board.

The Department’s object in stocking these sera is to ensure that an adequate and fresh supply of sera is always available, and by keeping the main supplies in Wellington under proper conditions of cool storage, it can avoid the loss and expense that resulted in the past from stocks being held in varying quantities throughout the Dominion, and the consequent necessity for much writing-off of stale and expired stocks.

The present system enables stocks to be held by Hospital bBoards sufficient only for immediate requirements, which can be replenished from the Department’s main stock. The Department, moreover, can always obtain fresh supplies within a week from the Laboratories in Australia, and therefore, there is no danger of stocks either being exhausted or being held in such large quantities as to become stale and have to be destroyed.

Though the Department does not refuse to supply chemists or others with sera, it is pointed out to medical practitioners that there is apparently nothing gained by a chemist, possibly in a small town, with only one medical man as a client, having to hold stocks of sera which may or may not be required, and in the latter eventuality having to be written-off, in which case the chemist would have to bear the loss unless he covered himself against loss by charging a sufficiently high price for the sera. Under the present conditions the Department bears the loss, if any, in regard to expired stocks, but avoids such contingencies owing to the facilities it has for disposing and renewing its stock.

1921

With the exception of such vaccines, e.g., influenza vaccine and autogenous vaccines, as are manufactured by the various Government Bacteriologists and can be obtained therefrom, the Department of Health has arranged to undertake the agency for New Zealand of the Commonwealth Serum Laboratories, whose product it has been carrying and distributing through the Hospital Boards for some time past. These products are obtainable, therefore, only through the Health Department, but to facilitate their distribution the Department has arranged to supply Hospital Boards therewith, from whom medical practitioners can obtain their supplies at the prices set out in the printed price list issued by the Commonwealth Laboratories. Medical practitioners requiring these products should apply to the Boards of their districts therefore, and if the Boards have not the sera in stock, then it can be supplied by the Department. Medical men should, however, avoid making it a practice of applying to the Department instead of to the Hospital Board, with the exception of those in the Wellington hospital district, who can be supplied by the head office of the Health Department instead of by the Wellington Hospital Board.

The Department’s object in stocking these sera is to ensure that an adequate and fresh supply of sera is always available, and by keeping the main supplies in Wellington under proper conditions of cool storage, it can avoid the loss and expense that resulted in the past from stocks being held in varying quantities throughout the Dominion, and the consequent necessity for much writing-off of stale and expired stocks.

The present system enables stocks to be held by Hospital bBoards sufficient only for immediate requirements, which can be replenished from the Department’s main stock. The Department, moreover, can always obtain fresh supplies within a week from the Laboratories in Australia, and therefore, there is no danger of stocks either being exhausted or being held in such large quantities as to become stale and have to be destroyed.

Though the Department does not refuse to supply chemists or others with sera, it is pointed out to medical practitioners that there is apparently nothing gained by a chemist, possibly in a small town, with only one medical man as a client, having to hold stocks of sera which may or may not be required, and in the latter eventuality having to be written-off, in which case the chemist would have to bear the loss unless he covered himself against loss by charging a sufficiently high price for the sera. Under the present conditions the Department bears the loss, if any, in regard to expired stocks, but avoids such contingencies owing to the facilities it has for disposing and renewing its stock.