DOCTORS AND THE HEALTH PLAN

Press, Volume LXXIV, Issue 22445, 5 July 1938, Page 12

DOCTORS AND THE HEALTH PLAN

FINAL STATEMENT BY MR SAVAGE ATTEMPT TO MAKE “POLITICAL CAPITAL” (From Our Parliamentary Reporter.! WELLINGTON, July 4. What he said would be his final statement on the suggestion of Dr. J. P. S. Jamieson, president of the New Zealand branch of the British Medical Association, that the association had not been taken into the confidence of the Government on the social security proposals, was made by the Prime Minister (the Rt. Hon. M. J. Savage) 10-day. Mr Savage accused Dr. Jamieson of trying to make political capital out of the issue, and said that the people would have a chance to express their opinion of the proposals at the polls. “I know of no section of the community that has received greater consideration than has been given the British Medical Association.” he said. Mr Savage said there was nothing likely to be in the bill beyond what Dr. Jamieson already knew, as there would be no alteration in the principles of the scheme. It was purely a question jf giving legal shape to the proposals that had been put before the Parliamentary Committeb, and on which the British Medical Association had had the same opportunity to make representations as any other section of the community. “The British Medical Association had the right to appear before Dr. McMillan’s committee long before the Parliamentary Committee sat,” Mr Savage added. “Members of the association gave evidence, individually and collectively, and they were interviewed by Dr. McMillan all over the country. I know of no section of the people that has had greater consideration than the British Medical Association in this connexion.

“I would say quite definitely that Dr. Jamieson is turning this into political propaganda,” Mr Savage said. “1 am not concerned with that at the moment, but I am concerned with providing a service for the people, and I am not carrying this wrangle any further. The people’s representatives will have to decide the rest when the bill is before Parliament, and when that is over, the people will decide it r or themselves at the poll. If they find they do not want it, they will know what to do with the Government.”