‘M.P. Had B.M.A. Report’

Press, Volume CVI, Issue 31162, 12 September 1966, Page 1

‘M.P. Had B.M.A. Report’

(From Our Own Reporter) WELLINGTON, Sept. 11. A report prepared by a committee of the Auckland division of the British Medical Association had been referred to in discussions in Parliament by Mr J. B. Gordon (Govt., Clutha), long before it had been officially completed or released, the secretary of the New Zealand Medical Association (Dr. E. Geiringer) said tonight. He was replying to the

chairman of the council of the B.M.A. (Dr. L. Brown). Dr. Brown had said that Dr. Geiringer’s statement that on June 22 Mr Gordon had used the committee’s report in Parliament was not correct, because the report had not been completed until July. It had only recently been circulated to B.M.A. members. Tonight, Dr. Geiringer quoted from the minutes of a meeting of the Auckland division of the B.M.A. They said that Dr. Brown had advised the division that he had received from Dr. A. Patterson the result of the inquiry on general practitioners. It was decided that the report should be sent to the council for preliminary information. Dr. Geiringer said that a report on the inquiry had been received as early as

April 27, in which the results of the inquiry were summarised. He produced a copy of Hansard, showing that on June 22, in reply to a motion by Mr R. L. Bailey (Opp., Heretaunga) relating to the Medical Services Benefit, Mr Gordon had given details of the report. These details, Dr. Geiringer said, included such points as the conclusion that the average doctor in Auckland received 12s 7d a patient, and that panel doctors were receiving less than the social security payment. Mr Gordon also gave details of the yearly hours worked by doctors and other matters relating directly to the report. “It is obvious that Mr Gordon had at his disposal all

the essential information In the report,” Dr. Geiringer said. “At that time, this infomation was available , neither to members of the Opposition nor to the doctors themselves. “It was then that I concluded that, as details of the report had been given in Parliament, it was no longer secret, and could thus be given to the public. “A question that should be answered is. who gave Mr Gordon the report? “Dr. Brown has questioned my motives in giving the report to newspapers. 1 was acting in the interests of the public. The B.M.A. is not prepared to admit that there is a conflict between its interests and those of the public—or that such a conflict should be resolved at once.”