FEE INADEQUATE.

Auckland Star, Volume LXX, Issue 99, 29 April 1939, Page 13

FEE INADEQUATE.

CHRIBTCHURCH OPPOSITION. - i (T!jr Telegraph— Press Association.) CmMSTCrrtTRCFf, Friday. ' 'hrisldinrcli doctors have almost linn 11 imiiti- ly opposed acceptance of the maternity contract. A member of tlio Canterbury division of the British .Medical Association said to-day that objection was taken to the terms of the contract on numerous grounds. lie said that a £•"> fee for full attendance was inadequate for the services rendered. The doctor, who considered it necessary to call in the services of one or more practitioners, was in an unjust position, as the maximum amount payable in respect of one patient was £5. .\ doctor attending a woman who called in one or more practitioners in an emergency had to meet those practitioners' fees himseli, Furthermore, the whole contract wag packed with such an enormous amount of red tape, as between the doctor and the Health Department and the medioal oil r of health, that the wheels would become clogged. The filling in of forms and other red tape requirements would take up far too much of the doctor's t i me.