Lack Of Medical Officers

Press, Volume C, Issue 29448, 25 February 1961, Page 10

Lack Of Medical Officers

The South Island will soon be. short of five medical officers ofTiealth, with little Prospect of more than one or two of the vacant positions being filled before next year. This is matter for jp-ave concern. The DeputyiDirector of Health (Administrative), Mr D. A. Hunn, rsaid this week that most of f the work of the missing medical officers would be done by technical and clerical staff, with supervision by the remaining professional officers, and that this would adequately cater for the districts which were shorthanded. This might be an adequate arrangement over a short period; but the ultimate result can only be that the remaining medical officers will be grossly overworked, or that decisions will be taken by insufficiently qualified persons, or that work will simply be left undone. Work that must certainly suffer includes the valuable industrial and tuberculosis research of Dr. F. A. de Hamel in Christchurch and the specialist officers in Dunedin. Mr Hunn also claimed that the vacancies were not the result of any failure by the department to prepare for the future, or of any unattra<jtiveness .in the positions. ’While it must always be difficult to create a sufficient reserve for a service comprising a few dozen people, a situation where vacancies must wait a year or more to be filled is, to say the least, most unsatisfactory. The depart-

ment may complain that it was not expecting its officers to take positions outside the service, and that it was just bad luck that a number decided to go within a short period. This was always a possibility. The fact is that insufficient doctors are being drawn to a service which might be expected, on general grounds, to present an intellectual challenge and a life-long interest to not a few of our best medical minds. The reasons may be complex. The attraction that a private practice offers to an individualist certainly provides part of the answer. The basic trouble could equally be the lack of oppdrtunity in the public health service. The only promotions are to the charge of one of the major health districts, ! and from there to a head' office position. In none of | these posts are there salary) increments to reward accu-) mulating experience andl faithful service; in none, | except at the very top, is I there real independence to I decide any but relatively minor issues. Some of those elevated to head office might’ nave been happier if given the same status while remaining in their districts doing public health work in the field. They might also have been given supervision over medical officers in I neighbouring minor districts. ■ Whatever the reasons for the) shortage of health officers, the facts are clearly disturbing. The department, in asserting otherwise, is burying its head in the sand.