Medicine: Help for Hospitals

Virtually every major U.S. university takes pride in its medical center, which usually comprises medical, dental and nursing schools and a complex of hospitals. But when it comes to fund raising, most universities step deftly aside and leave the medical centers to do their own barrel scraping. A Manhattan ceremony last week highlighted equally the financial straits of the nation’s medical centers and the vastness of the sums they are seeking.

To the New York Hospital-Cornell Medical Center’s fund drive, former Ambassador to Britain John Hay Whitney and his sister, Mrs. Charles S. Payson, handed checks of $5,000,000 each. But even as he did so, Whitney pointed out that New York-Cornell must raise $80 million by 1971. Other hungry hospitals: — Columbia-Presbyterian Medical Center in Manhattan is out to raise $50 million.

>Of the New York Federation of Jewish Philanthropies’ $104 million drive, $60 million is earmarked for eleven hospitals. >Harvard Medical School and Massachusetts General Hospital are running separate but dovetailed drives for a total of $78 million.

> Johns Hopkins University, for medical institutions, wants $37 million.