Page 6-Saturday, June 16, 1979-The Michigan Daily 'U' administration defends handling of hospital plans By JOHN GOYER DENYING PRESS charges of Members of the planning committee from 923 to 900, a compromise with the As the eight University Regents filed "arrogance" in the matter, Smith said, said the hospital, under the plan sub- cuts envisioned by the regional health into their meeting room in the Ad- "I don't think our actions justify any mitted, would add to the cost of health planners, according to Smith. ministration Building yesterday mor- such assertion." care in the state and would add to the Smith also cited small offices for ning, one of them passed around an Smith said University and regional problem of excessive numbers of faculty members (100 square feet), the editorial which appeared in the mor- planners have disagreed on points such hospital beds in southeastern Michigan. consolidation of nursing stations, and ning edition of a Detroit newspaper. as the type of population figures to use Smith also said regional planners the eliminations of some educational The column was one of many in recent in order to estimate what the occupan- were at fault for not recognizing that space from the hospital as concessions weeks which has criticized University cy rate of the hospital would be when the new hospital is to be used primarily the University has made to answer the officials in their handling of the plans completed. "I don't think it's arrogant as a teaching hospital as opposed to a concerns of the regional health plan- for the new University Hospital. After to make our point and to indicate to community hospital. Smith added that ners. the meeting, several of -the school's them what is our point," he said, the former classification would justify administrators responded to such The plans, currently under con- morespaceforthehospital. SMITH NOTED that the regional allegations of circumventing the nor- sideration by the Michigan Department He also said that while the regional planners have the responsibility of mal planning procedures. of Public Health, were rejected in April planners told the University to cut the trying to reduce the number of hospital Interim University President Allan by a regional planning commission. cost of the hospital, they never cited beds in southeastern Michigan, in order Smith responded specifically to The department, which has the final programs that were unneeded in the to control rising health care costs. But charges that University officials were say in the decision, will decide by new hospital. he said the area that has too many beds circumventing the regular planning August 8 whether the University may THE UNIVERSITY is asking the is Detroit, not Ann Arbor. process by bringing the hospital plans build the hospital. state to borrow some $200 million "I think you have to begin with the to the Michigan Department of Public THE NEGATIVE recommendation through the sale of bonds to finance the understanding that there are substan- Health unchanged from a version that was accompanied by the suggestion construction of the hospital. tive groups in southeastern Michigan had been earlier rejected by a regional that the University come up with a The University has already cut the that have staked out positions for them- planning commission. cheaper, scaled-down hospital plan. number of beds in the planned hospital selves," Regent Deane Baker (R-Ann --__Arbor) said yesterday. The regional planners of the Com- prehensive Health Planning Council peop e ' represent Detroit-area medical groups, Boat people forced out to sea aker claimed, adding that there are 2300 surplus hospital beds in the Detroit area. From AP and UPI KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia - The Malaysian gover- nment said yesterday it will force the 76,000 Vietnamese "boat people" sheltered here back out .to sea, and it joined two other Southeast Asian countries in a naval effort to drive refugees away from their shores. Deputy Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad said the government would evict the refugees immediately and tow them to international waters as soon as boats are available. After that, he said, the government would empower patrols to "shoot on sight" at any boats trying to land in Malaysia. IT WAS NOT immediately clear whether the fierce war- ning, announced by Deputy Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad, was a scare tactic or truly a new policy. But Mahathir said the police and navy would be em- powered to repel any "boat people" entering Malaysian waters. He vowed the mass deportation would take place as soon as the government obtains enough boats. "The government will arm itself with the necessary legislation soon to shoot on sight any Vietnamese illegal im- migrants entering our waters," Mahathir said. "We will be harsh with them." IN WASHINGTON, State Department press officer Thomas Reston said the United States had no official confir- mation of the report. "We would find any such action incon- sistent with the previous record of the government of Malaysia in terms of humanitarian assistance," Reston said. "We, of course, would deplore any action which would lead to the deaths of refugees." The refugees here, part of an estimated 350,000 Indochinese "boat people" seeking resettlement in Southeast Asia, have been living in camps until relief agencies can find room for them in Western countries. Relief officials say thousands of others trying to flee Viet- nam on overcrowded boats have died at sea. BAKER SAID he understood there is a problem, but that it is Detroit's proble'm. He pointed out that even though specialized care facilities similar in sophistication to the planned University Hospital exist in Detroit, doctors do not refer patients to Detroit hospitals. Baker also said doctors refer patients to University Hospital instead because of its good reputation, and he cited the teaching and research functions of the hospital as factors that make it dif- ferent from a community hospital, and thus exempt from some of the regional planning guidelines used by regional planners. Oxygen deficiency at plant may have caused death (Continued fromPaget2) tering the area to inspect it, a labor safety official said. Inspectors gathered at the Consumer's Power Co. plant being built near Midland seeking the cause of the in- cident, which took place inside an in- strumentation tank within the core of one of the plant's unfinished twin reac- tors. TWO OF THE injured remained hospitalized yesterday at the Midland Hospital Center but were in good con- dition, a hospital spokeswoman said. Nine others who inhaled the gas were treated and released Thursday. Killed was Donald Kinsala, 54, of Midland, a site engineer for Babcock & Wilcox Co., the firm that designed the plant's reactors. Kinsala was overcome by the gas af- ter he entered the 28-foot-deep tank to inspect it. However, he died of multiple injuries, possibly suffered in a fall from a ladder, utility officials said. BEFORE HE entered the tank, tests were conducted to determine if there was sufficient oxygen within the'struc- ture, said Joseph Wrzesinski, chief of the state Department of Labor's Con- struction Safety Division. State occupational health and safety law requires such tests before workers enter any "confined space," Wrzesinski said. "We do know that a test was conduc- ted and the area was found to be deficient of oxygen," he said. "Why Kinsala went down into the tank we don't know yet. Whether he was pre- warned, this will be part of the in- vestigation." IF KINSALA entered the tank with the knowledge of the lack of oxygen, he would have been violating state law, Wrzesinski said. "According to the health standards, he should not have gone in if he knew it was deficient of oxygen," he said. In addition to state health and labor officials, the accident was being in- vestigated by inspectors from Con- sumers, B&W and Bechtel Power Corp., which is building the $1.67 billion plant. WRESINSKI SAID it probably would be 4 to 5 days before state officials finished interviewing other workers at the site and were able to piece together the sequence of events during the ac- cident. "We don't know what happened after the test was conducted and the tank was found to be deficient in oxygen," he said. "We have not been able to really get down to interview the project manager." The colorless, odorless argon was being used in welding operations inside the tank. The gas, which is not toxic but can displace oxygen and is considered an asphyxiant, is used to prevent corrosion.