(II)
under present conditions makes it obvious that any case of dismis- sal would result in continual and protracted arbitration. During such a period of arbitration the authority of the hospital would be paralyzed, and dismissal of even rendered superfluous employees impossible.
Threats of Strikes.
These regulations are the result of an appeal made to the Govern- ment last October, when labour union demands were being forced upon the hospital and the em- ployees had threatened to walk out unless those demand's were acceded to. The Government, re- presented by Mr. Eugene Chen, Minister of Foreign Affairs, sought to settle the dispute by promulgating certain regulations which would control for all hos- pitals their relations with their employees.
He required the labourers not to strike while the regulations were being drafted, and enjoined the hospital not to dismiss em- ployees during that period. A committee was appointed within the Government and the work pro- gressed slowly until the removal of Mr. Chen and his associates to the headquarters at Wuchang ap- parently brought progress to a standstill.
Under this arrangement, which Mr. Chen had intimated would be short, the employees of the hos-! pital, however, stirred up serious trouble in December, and demands for the removal of one of the for- eign staff were followed by flagrant and persistent insubor- 'dination on the part of some em- ployees. At this juncture, in view of the Government's inaction, the hospital management deemed it necessary to dismiss some of the trouble makers. The Government was duly notified, and during January two employees were dis- missed.
Government Concern.
This was followed by another threat to strike, on a charge of The 'dismissing without reason.' Government Foreign Office there- upon renewed its
concern over
the labour situation, and promis- ed to promulgate the regulations within the month, again enjoin- ing the hospital to agree not to discharge employees within that. period. It also requested that for the sake of adherence to the former agreement the two ployees be retained or reinstated temporarily. This the hospital finally agreed to do.
em-
The committee drafting. the re- gulations had had submitted for its consideration the demands of the labour union (which insisted on full liberty to strike, big pay, that no change of work or dis- missal of an employee be permit- ted without consent of the labour union, and also demanding certain sickness and death benefit clauses that were quite impossible to ful- fil.) This committee was also the recipient of a document re- quested from the hospitals, which embodied four principles for hos- pital management drawn up by the South China Medical Associa- The statement was as fol-
tion.
lows:
Immune From Strikes.
"Hospitals are for the relief of the ill and injured. It is the duty of all connected with the hospital to co-operate, each doing his par- ticular part to effect the cure of the patients. All, poor or rich, young or old, when sick want the best treatment and care possible, and they should have it. Every- one in a hospital should give his best for the patients.
"The doctors have special train- ing and experience in the care of! the sick. They, more than any others, know the best methods and have the ability to use them. Furthermore, upon them solely rests the responsibility for the welfare of the patients. There- fore all other employees of the hospital are under the direction of the physicians or their repre- sentatives. All authority rests ultimately in the medical staff.
"It is necessary, however, that all employees have fair compen- sation, healthful living quarters,. and opportunity for the reason- able enjoyment of life in return for faithful, efficient service.
"1. Hospitals are to be im- mune from strikes, forcible clos- of ing, picketing, intimidation staff or patients, or any outside illegal interference in their man- agement or operation.
"2. Full authority shall be vested in the hospital management for engaging, disciplining or dis- charging anyone in the service of the hospital.
"3. In case an employee is dis- charged for reasons not the fault of himself, one month's remunera- tion in advance shall be given him.
"4. Any employee guilty of stealing, adultery, gross maltreat- ment of a patient or disobedience or neglect of duty, may be dis- missed without notice or advance remuneration."
has to
Forced to Borrow. The Canton Government been notified and requested remove from the hospital the two hundred and thirty public health patients received from the Canton
Public Department of
Health. Part of this number comes from Hongkong, that Government hav- ing deported such patients to the Canton Department of Public Health, but having recently pro- vided temporary support for them in the John G Kerr Hospital.
At the present date the Canton Government, through its Depart- ment of Public Health, has already incurred a debt to the John G. Kerr Hospital of ninety-one thou- sand dollars (not including inter- est). This debt has accumulated over the past five years, the Gov- ernment at times paying little or nothing towards the support of its patients, and refusing to re- move them from the hospital.
Unable and undesirous of turn- ing the Government patients out on the streets, the hospital has been forced, in order to bear the enormous financial cost of feed- ing those patients during that un- profitable period, to borrow heavi- ly from its own building funds, money which has been generously given by many Chinese abroad, by the Hongkong Government, and by other bodies. These internal loans were only made after full notifica. tion to the donors.
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