HARVARD AND BCH

To the Editors of The Crimson:

Robin Freedberg's excellent coverage of the Boston City Hospital situation over the past week contained two notes, one attributed to Boston University. Both appeared in The Crimson story of Friday, March 2. I would like to comment on these points.

First, Ms. Freedberg referred to a figure of $8.2 million in "grants and endowments" held by Harvard. The figure involves no grants. It is all endowment. Also, Harvard did not "vow" to withdraw this from the BCH. Harvard did indicate that if forced out of the Hospital the support of the income from that endowment would be lost insofar as the BCH was concerned.

Second, a Boston University Medical School spokesman contrasted BU's "main interest in patient care" to "Harvard's primary interest in research and teaching," a "possible area of conflict." It should have been clear to the spokesman that research and teaching are certainly not incompatible with patient care. In fact, good patient care intimately involves both research as well as teaching. Further, one could point to the many areas of patient care rendered by Harvard personnel, both within the BCH and in neighborhood health centers throughout the city, as indicative of the Medical School's strong commitment to the delivery of medical care. Herbert A. Shaw   Director of Medical Information