CHEAPER THAN CURE

Press, Volume XC, Issue 27273, 13 February 1954, Page 3

CHEAPER THAN CURE

A CASE FOR PREVENTIVE MEDICINE Our National 11l Health Service. By Surgeon Vice-Admiral Sir Sheldon F. Dudley. Watts and Co. 225 pp. Prevention is not only better than cure in Sir Sheldon Dudley’s view; it is also a good deal cheaper. The great difficulty of preventive medicine in a democracy is that civilian society lacks the effective discipline which is so important in the conspicuously successful health services of the armed forces. Enlightened public opinion is the only alternative to discipline, and in this book Sir Sheldon Dudley has made an important contribution to enlightenment

pus is an argument addressed not only to the medical profession The layman will find in it nothing he cannot easily follow, and much that he can enjoy. He may find some illusions shattered; he may be a little startled by the nautical pungency of some passages; but he cannot fail to be impressed.

Shejdon Dudley ranges a wide field m what he describes as an essay on the preservation of health. New Zealand is taken as an example of what should not be done. Although he o°es not mention recent improvements m tne administration of social security it IS doubtful whether, if he knew oi them, they have been significant t - . chan ?e Sir Sheldon Dudleys opinion about this “awful example ' and its opportunities tor wild extravagance." Believing, as he does, that at least three-quarters of medical prescriptions are valueless, except psychologically, Sir She Won Dudley argues that a good deal of money iound by the taxpayers could diverted to ensuring the health of the majority. Most laymen will find the chief interest m the chapter “On Debunk- . ! For instan ce: ‘ ‘The most striking literal example of misplaced energy in treatment is the attempt to cure obesity by exercise to work °^n a * at i s necessary to walk 66 miles at the rapid pace of three and a half miles an hour .... Doctors therefore who prescribe exercise for slimming are almost guilty of cruelty to animals and, anyhow, have no sense of proportion whatever.” Agam: “It has been proved in the Royal Navy that the presence .of doctors is a certain way of increasing the mean time a man is on the sick list when suffermg from influenza (and indeed when suffering from the majority of diseases for which there is nqspecific treatment).” IJis book deserves to be widely read. Its message is proverbial, but the heed * gl Z en 11 sh °v/s that it needs constant and authoritative repe-