LOCAL ELECTIONS BILL

Press, Volume LXXXIX, Issue 27075, 25 June 1953, Page 7

LOCAL ELECTIONS BILL

EFFECT ON HOSPITAL BOARDS

MOST DOCTORS SAID TO ■ BE BARRED i y_ public had shown through the box that it wanted doctors on the North Canterbury Hospital Board, Local Elections and Polls Bill became law the only doctors who could sit on the board would be retired or superannuated, said Mr J. J. Brownlee at a meeting of the board yesterday. The bill, which was introduced to Parliament early this year and referred to the Local Bills Committee, debars from membership of a local body any person who receives remuneration from that body. Mr Brownlee said that Mr D. MacMillan, himself and possibly Dr. L. C. L. Averill would be barred by the legislation. . “The public should realise that it is only recently that any member of the staff of this hospital has received any bigger honorarium than is paid to the chairman of the board,” Mr Brownlee said. “This board is not like the college council, affecting one section of the community. It represents every section. “Democratically, the electors have shown through the ballot box that they want doctors on the board,” said Mr Brownlee. “Are they going to have a restricted field? This can mean that only a doctor who is retired or superannuated or it not qualified at all can represent the public on the hospital board. Anv man who is up-to-date in his profession and has experience of hospital administration is almost invariably on the visiting staff of his or an ancillary hospital.” |