HERBERT R. O'CONOR, GOVERNOR. 167

immediately after Section 525 of said Article, and to read as
follows:

CHRONIC HOSPITALS AND INFIRMARIES.

526. The State Board of Health is authorized to establish
two institutions for needy persons from the various counties
and Baltimore City who require medical, nursing or custodial
care by reason of chronic illness or infirmity; one of which shall
be located in one of the nine counties on the Eastern Shore and
one in one of the fourteen counties on the Western Shore, at
points to be selected by said Board with the approval of the
Board of Public Works. The cost of the erection and equip-
ment of said institutions (including the cost of acquiring ap-
propriate sites) shall be paid out of appropriations in the
budget, or in any bond issue bill making appropriations for the
purpose. Each institution shall contain two sections, one of
which shall be a chronic hospital and the other an infirmary,
and proper provision for both the white and colored races shall
be made. In selecting sites and making architectural plans for
each institution, provision shall be made for possible expan-
sion and for the later addition of a unit for the treatment of
chronic diseases of children. The State Board of Health shall
appoint a superintendent and such other personnel as may be
necessary, within the limits of the budgetary appropriations,
for each institution.

527. Admission to the chronic hospitals and infirmaries
shall be made on the basis of a statement by a physician who,
after an examination, finds that the patient is in need of
chronic hospital or infirmary care, and of a further statement
by the local County Welfare Board or the Department of
Welfare of Baltimore City that the patient is unable to pay
for the-cost of his care. Final arrangements for admission
shall be made only after the County Commissioners of the
County or the Department of Welfare of Baltimore City
where the applicant resides have given their approval. No
patient shall be admitted who has tuberculosis in a trans-
missible form, mental disease of the type requiring care in
a mental hospital, an orthopedic disease of a type admissible
to the special orthopedic hospitals, or who is under the ago
of sixteen years.

528. No patient shall be admitted who is able to pay the
cost of proper hospital care elsewhere. In all cases admitted,
there shall be collected from the patient or his family as much
of the actual cost of maintenance as is reasonably possible, but
no case shall pay above the actual per diem cost calculated
on the basis of the total cost of running the institutions.