The Medical Profession

Press, Volume CIII, Issue 30369, 19 February 1964, Page 16

The Medical Profession

It is true, as the president of the Wellington division of the British Medical Association (Dr. F. L. Hutter) says, that to many people “ doctors are public servants, too well paid, and, “ like all public servants, “ needing to be slapped “down now and again”. It is not true that the only action that can be taken is to “ re-educate the public “ to reinstate the family “ doctor ”, The “ family “ doctor ”, in the former sense, was doomed in New Zealand from the introduction of Social Security; the State inevitably enters into the relationship between doctor and patient. Many in the profession deplore this intervention: but Social Security is a fact of social life in New Zealand, and the medical profession

must live with it. The public’s re-education will begin when the profession shows itself more aware of the public, many of whom probably do not realise how well they are served by the great majority of general practitioners. For this extreme professional reticence is largely to blame. Out-dated restrictions on advertising and publicity should be modified if they limit the usefulness of medical services that are available. Why, for instance, should Dr. Smith, Dr. Brown, and Dr. Jones not be allowed to advertise that they have installed a telephone system to ensure that in the absence of any of them one is still on call? As Dr. Hutter says, it is “time the pro- “ fession moved into the “ twentieth century ”.