The Sydney Morning Herald from Sydney, New South Wales, Australia • Page 5

The Sydney Morning Herald Thursday, September 28, 1989 5 Country hospitals must change priorities, says report SUPPLY OF RURAL ACUTE CARE BEDS strong opposition to any form of amalgamation from many Government MPs. While welcoming the report, Mr Collins said that its recommendations did not necessarily represent Government policy and in some important respects, "could be seen to differ markedly from existing He said small country hospitals were "trying to do too "There is a need to develop networks, so that you can have a hospital in one town providing more acute-pare beds, while a hospital in another town provides more nursing-home beds," he said. Also of concern was the state of some hospitals described as "very with many of the smaller hospitals not meeting the minimum standards required of a private hospital or "a private nursing home. The report said that while there were too many acute-care beds in hospitals, hostel beds and nursing-home beds for the aged were not distributed evenly. Accident and emergency services also needed to be upgraded immediately because country people were more likely to be involved in road and occupational accidents than city people, it said.

The principal problem of "Unless you get some of this co-operation, you are going to find it very difficult for some of these tiny hospitals to' stand alone." Mr Collins also promised that no country hospital would close in NSW "in the foreseeable although he admitted some hospitals would need to become more flexible and change their role. The report, compiled by the PA Consulting Group, found that the major areas of concern in the country were a lack of accident services, a shortage of nursing-style beds for the aged, and increasing difficulty in attracting doctors to isolated areas. By LUIS M. GARCIA Public hospitals in small towns should close most of their acute-care beds and use the money to improve accident services and provide more nursing-type accommodation, a State Government report has recommended. The report, commissioned by the Minister for Health, Mr Collins, in May and released yesterday, also recommended that hospital boards be amalgamated to cut exorbitant administration costs.

However, this recommendation was rejected almost immediately by Mr Collins, partly because of Estimated Number of Acute care Resident Hospitals Beds per 1988 1.000 pn Region Pop'n Base General Private Ratio North Coast 353,800 2 17 3 4.9 New England 247,800 1 21 4 6.1 Orana Far West 141,780 2 21 1 7.4 Central West 168,280 2 2J 1 6.6 SouthWest 253,620 3 26 2 5.8 South East 191,420 1 17 0 4.2 iiition Bono equals potent rock iro. app areiitly 'Huntley will beat killer disease in chickens By BOB BEALE Science Writer GOLD COAST: Trials of a new genetically engineered vaccine made by Australian scientists are having stunning success against an AI DS-like disease in poultry. The state-of-the-art project has involved some brilliant science, and it promises as well to be financially lucrative for Australia. The vaccine protects poultry against infectious bursal disease, which costs the industry $50 million a year worldwide. It is expected to be on the market as early as next year, making it the world's first successful veterinary vaccine of its type, according to the CSI RO.

Scientists in the CSIRO's divisions of animal health and biotechnology led by Dr Kevin Fahey and Dr Ahmed Azad developed the vaccine in collaboration with the Sydney-based veterinary vaccine company, Arthur Webster Pty Ltd. Only one other similar, genetically designed vaccine has been successfully developed so far, a human vaccine against hepatitis B. Commercial trials are showing the new Australian vaccine to be completely effective against the Infectious Bursal Disease Virus (IBDV), which causes immune deficiency in young birds. It leaves newly hatched chicks susceptible to opportunist infections, either killing them or significantly slowing their growth. The breakthrough does not have any direct relevance to AIDS research, however, because IBDV attacks animal immune systems in a different way to the human immuno-deficiency virus (HIV) responsible for AIDS.

Nor do chickens infected with IBDV pose any health risk to humans, notes Dr Colin Ward, the deputy chief of the CSIRO's division of biotechnology, and a member of the research team. The project began in 1982 supported by special Federal Government funding programs aimed at stimulating new biotechnology and industrial research. The vaccine will replace" an older existing vaccine (also developed in Australia). It will be simpler and cheaper to make The research team was able to identify the specific protein in the virus required for vaccination, and clone and unravel the virus's entire DNA sequences. It has been tested on hundreds of birds so far with 100 per cent success, another member of the team, Dr Ian Macreadie, has told the Australian Biochemical Society Conference.

The technique has been patented, and the CSIRO is likely to put its share of the expected profits back into more vaccine research. STATIONS RATED Vaccine attracting doctors to rural areas was not a lack of financial incentives but that doctors and nurses found it difficult to practise in comparative isolation. The report recommended improving relations between small hospitals and upgrading the training available for doctors in isolated areas. The Opposition spokesman on health, Dr Andrew Refshauge, said the report would result in many small hospitals being turned into accident units. But the Opposition welcomed Mr Collins's assurances that there would be no forced amalgamations of hospital boards.

Picture by STEVEN SIEWERT talent, and of commitment. Rock roll audiences ask for no more. Yet they so rarely get it. In the next four weeks U2 will play Melbourne, Adelaide and Brisbane. It played three sell-out concerts in Perth last week.

It is estimated that by late October, when it leaves for tours of New Zealand and Japan, it will have performed to an estimated national audience of 250,000. HOW THE NUMBER ONE 6pm to midnight LAST WEEK SEVENTH SURVEY EVENING NEWS U2 plus By BRUCE ELDER Trailing clouds of international glory and weighed down by the hyperbole of "the greatest rock roll band in the the Irish band U2 played last night the first of their eight Sydney concerts. In front of a capacity audience of wildly enthusiastic fans, the band performed a concert which American and European audiences saw as long ago as April, 1987. U2 may now call its performance the "Love Came To Town Tour" but it started life in Arizona in 1987 as the "Joshua Tree Since then it has been filmed, a book has been written about it, and a double album of music from it has been released. In its second manifestation it formed a substantial part of what became known as the "Rattle and Hum" package.

But, what's in a name? Regardless of name or antecedents, this is still one of the best live concerts by one of the world's best rock bands. Although it started somewhat unevenly (and there were some problems with the sound) by the end of the night, U2 had performed most of its hits and created such a feeling of goodwill that the audience was quite spontaneously singing along with virtually every song. The audience's familiarity with the songs and performances bred nothing but affection. Blues guitar hero B. B.

King, who had opened the evening as support act, was greeted with wild enthusiasm when he returned to join Bono in the encore When Love Comes To Town. The audience raised their arms in passionate acclamation when lead singer Bono dedicated Pride (In The Name of Love) to the civil rights leader Martin Luther King. By the end of the night the capacity audience was screaming for more. This was much more than polite and obligatory praise. It was the exultant cry of 12,000 people who had seen a hugely talented band give its heart and soul to a bunch of beautifully crafted pop and rock songs.

U2's appeal is simple and obvious. In an age of flashy videos and studio-produced dance music, it Police chief planted heroin, Tembytold By JOHN SAMPSON A former police officer has alleged that the Assistant Commissioner of Police, Mr Tony planted heroin on the convicted businessman Frank Hakim during a raid on his office and that four other senior members of the police force were involved. After two days of closed hearings the Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) opened to the public yesterday its investigation into the conduct of Mr Lauer, retired chief superintendent Ernie Shepard, of the Interaal Police Security Unit, Assistant Commissioner Eric Strong, head of the Drug Enforcement Agency, and deputy chief inspectors Heinz Moeller and Barry Dunn. The investigation was launched after the ICAC received a report of possible corrupt conduct from the chairman of the Police Board, including allegations that the five police officers planted evidence, conspired to give false testimony and perjured themselves. In a statement to the ICAC, the former policeman, Mr Robert Hook, said that Hakim had told him that during a raid on Hakim's office in February, 1985, Mr Lauer had produced several bags of heroin and claimed that he had found it in Hakim's coat pocket.

Mr Hook, who was a member of the Gaming Squad from 1981 to 1983 and discharged from the force in 1986 over allegations of misconduct, said that Hakim was well known to him and would often phone him at home with tips for punting on horse and dog races. On the afternoon after the raid, he said Hakim had called him and was "hysterical" and said several times: "Those they ing loaded me with heroin." Hakim named Mr Shepard, Mr Strong, Mr Lauer and Inspector Dunn as being some of the police involved in the raid. (Hakim was convicted in January 1987 of possessing 1.1 kilograms of heroin. In September, 1987, he was sentenced to 6V4 years' jail along with the former Minister for Corrective Services, Rex Jackson, over the early release of prisoners conspiracy). The Commissioner, Mr Ian Temby, QC, said in a statement that the arguments in favour of a private hearing included the fact that the allegations might be seen to have little substance as they were not new and the scrutiny they had received had failed to sustain them.

Mr Temby said he decided to open the investigation because "the public have a right to know what the commission is doing and how it is doing The hearing continues today. and a group of three others had taken them back to the power station oil store. "Then Mr Horlock wanted to get rid of them," Mr Ford said. Mr Ford said that a truck from a local carrying company had subsequently arrived at the oil store and he and a group of other men had loaded a number of drums. During the loading operation, he had suffered an accident in which his leg was hurt and for which he was paid compensation.

Mr Ford said: "Mr Horlock told the driver to take the drums to Huntley and see a bloke up there named Jack and he'll tell you what to do with it. He also said there will be blokes up there to offload it because we didn't have forklifts in those days. "The drums were all rusty. Some of the drums were heavy-duty drums. Some were Mobil, some were Caltex.

I know they were heavy duty drums because they had big wide rims on them. "Mr HorIock came over and opened the drums. He thought it was only water but there were fumes coming from them, acidy fumes. "The drums were filled with all the scrap acid and oils. They'd add battery acid to transform a fluid and other pieces like kerosene and turps and anything.

It all went in these drums." Mr Ford said the practice of disposing of battery acid in this way still went on but the oil companies strongly disapproved because they wanted to preserve their drums. He said that after the loading operation, he and his co-workers did not wait to see the truck leave. The inquiry resumes today. Channel Bono last night charismatic and approachable. By MALCOLM BROWN Drums of heavily-polluted liquid had been loaded on to a truck at the Port Kembla Power Station in the 1960s apparently for dumping underground at the Huntley Colliery on the South Coast, a retired power station worker told an inquiry yesterday.

Mr Gary Isedale Ford, of Warrawong, south of Wollon-gong, said the drums had been lying for nine months at Port Kembla because nobody could decide what to do with them. He said the pollution in the drums had been so bad they could not be taken to a salvage depot in Sydney and their contents could not be used to pour on to ground to settle dust, so finally the decision had apparently been taken to dump them. The Huntley Colliery Inquiry, chaired by Mr Richard Burbidge, QC, is trying to decide whether toxic wastes were dumped in Huntley Colliery in the 1960s. He has also to decide whether this can be related to an incidence of lymphoma cancer among men who worked there as miners, which in one category is seven times the State average. Mr Ford said that while he was working at the power station in that period, he had been told initially to pick up some drums buried in a coal heap.

"There were bits and pieces of liquid stuff like kerosene and battery acids around the drums," he said. "The drums had been rolled out and just tipped there." Mr Ford said a stores officer at the power station, a Mr Jack Horlock, had ordered that the drums be retrieved so Mr Ford ACT to go fluoride free More than 300,000 residents of the ACT and NSW will have fluoride removed from their water supply after a vote in the ACT Parliament yesterday. A coalition of minor parties in the ACT House of Assembly voted 10-7 to pass a private member's bill. Prevailing medical opinion is that fluoridation of water supplies prevents dental decay, and every Australian capital city except Brisbane has it. The decision will affect about 270,000 people in the ACT and about 30,000 in Queanbeyan.

reasserts the emotional power of live performance. Add to this the fact that the lead singer Bono fulfills the role of a rock'n'roll everyman and you have one of the most potent combinations in pop and rock music. Bono is rock star and the boy next door. He is charismatic and approachable. He has the extraordinary ability to imbue a 12,000 seat arena with a sense of intimacy.

Bono makes a U2 concert much more than a voyeuristic experience. There is a sense of unity and participation even down to a member of the audience being invited on stage to play guitar on a version of Curtis Mayfield's People Get Ready. The smiles on the faces of the departing audience said it all. This was a night of uplift, of emotion, of 9 coasting on its news and current affairs 2 7 9 10 SBS 10.2 30.3 31.9 25.7 1.8 10.9 29.3 31.3 26.7 1.8 12 15 31 17 4 MOVIE 7, 28 points By ROBIN OLIVER Television ratings are now behind the nine ball. Seemingly impossible to catch, Channel 9 has coasted to another weekly win and another four-week survey win, giving it all seven surveys conducted so far this year.

The sweeping success of its six o'clock hour, with Brian Henderson's news and Jana Wendt's A Current Affair both reaching 31 ratings points last week compared with dismal performances by Channel 7's news (peak 15, low 13) and Channel 10's Eyewitness News (peak 17, low 14), means that Channel 9 regularly starts each week with an all-up advantage of around three percentage points in audience share. This will undoubtedly force Channel 10 to fall into line and adopt a half-hour news. Ten will do this, probably before next season, if only in an attempt to cut its losses at 6.30 pm, where it now runs poorly behind Channel 7's Home and Away, now gaining audience again after the shock surgery of a timeslot change. Fortunes continue to fluctuate at 7 pm, where the ABC just manages to hoist a signal from the horizon with 12 points for its news. The ABC news is a nightly sign that the corporation is still afloat, if not buoyant, after Countdown Revolution, which creeps to a peak of three points, and a variety of programs at 6.30 pm, among which the best performer is Garden Australia (2 points).

Neighbours was back scoring well (two peaks of 24), Hinch was down a bit (20) and Sale of the Century, about which rumours of impending honourable retirement continue to circulate, bounced back to a peak of 24. Channel 10 continued its great Sunday night run with the League Final replay and The Comedy Company both on 29 points, but Channel 7 took out movie honours with the first-run James Bond movie A View to a Kill (28) and a mid-week re-run of the 1966 Batman (21). New Faces (19 peak) appeared to thrive reasonably cheerfully on rumours of closure, Body and Soul (5) looked in desperate need of sustenance while Australia's Most Wanted (13) looked dose to surrender. Channel 7 had another solid week of general entertainment after 7.30 pm, though a Moonwalker special featuring Michael Jackson was a disappointment. The other end of the day was marked by a decline in the fortunes of Channel 9's Today, last week down to two peaks of three points with a complete Tuesday session on only one point, while Good Morning Australia reached three peaks of seven points, narrowing the gap to The Cartoon Connection (9 peak).

A VIEW TO A KILL, HQ WHAT'S BEST 7. 21 WHAT'S MIKE LAST A LAST HOT major gains of the week OF STEPTOE AND SON'ALLO 'ALLO (Rpts) points NOT major loss of the week WALSH'S SUPERQUIZ. 10. 8 points WEEK'S SUCCESS CURRENT AFFAIR. 9, 31 points WEEK'S DISASTERS THE GREAT WALL OF IRON, 10, 7 points ABC WEEKNIGHTS AT 6:30 (Various) One peak of 2 points, the rest 1 i I sleepand be refreshedand readyfora full day's action.

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