A SURGEON ABROAD.

Press, Volume LXIV, Issue 19317, 23 May 1928, Page 7

A SURGEON ABROAD.

MR HENRY FORD'S HOSPITAL. [THE PRESS Special Service.] AUCKLAND, May 22. "With regard to sunlight treatment, it is largely advocated now and has: become very popular because of its value in the treatment ol rickets andi tuberculosis," said Mr Leslie J. ihompson, an Auckland surgeon, who has re-, turned to Auckland after a twelve months' tour aoroad. Sir Thompson said that artificial sunlight was not a '■quacl;'' thing but scientific treatment. A lot of new things were overrated, especially by untrained persons, but in rickets particularly artificial rays were used with great success. An interesting part of Mr Thompson's tour was that which included a visit to Detroit and Airport. Here they were the guests of Mr Henry Ford and his son JEdsel. "Mr Henry Ford has a wonderful hospital which is a. hobby of his," he said. "He maintains a fullv-paid medical staff numbering something near 100, and a staff of about 200 nurses. The patients number only about 300. The nurses' home is a sumptuous place. Each patient and each nurse has a single room with its own bathroom. In fact, in nearly all modern hospitals in America every patient has his own room and bathroom." In reply to a question as to how the work of our hospitals compared with that he had seen overseas, Mr Thompson said it was quite good here but we suffered from- lack of opportunity for an exchange of ideas. "In Eng. land," he said, "a great deal of attention is being paid to the value of the general practitioner's work because of the importance of the recognition of ' early symptoms and their classification, not only in the cure of disease but its prevention in the early stages. The late Sir James Mackenzie founded' an institute at St. Andrew's where general practitioners co-operated with specialists in research work and many are regarding their participation as a most imnortnnt thiner in the furtherance of medical research. Institutes of that, sort wou'd bev.ilimb'e in countries such as New Zealand where we have a lack of means of co-ooeration between men in hospitals and those not in hospitals."