Country Doctors “Doing All Right”

Press, Volume CIX, Issue 32114, 9 October 1969, Page 18

Country Doctors “Doing All Right”

More money was not the real solution to keeping doctors in country districts, said Dr J. R. Dawson, the National Party candidate for Wigrain, at a public meeting at Hornby last evening.

Dr Dawson, who is a former chairman of the council of the New Zealand branch of the BM.A, said that country doctors made a good income, what with their mileage allowances and gifts of eggs and other produce. “They do all right,” hesaid. The real problem was that doctors in country areas felt isolated from other doctors. Without opportunities to discuss professional matters with their colleagues they felt stale and out of touch. He said that the problem

would be solved by the production of more doctors from the medical schools. There would not be enough jobs for them all in the hospitals and in the towns, and some would have to go to the country. “They’ll be the chaps who were not first in the class in the upper sixth, but second or third,” Dr Dawson said. This would not make much difference to standards, because they would still be very intelligent young people. Dr Dawson said he did not see any great advantage to country districts of the proposal to have groups of doctors at a few central points. It would be inconvenient for the people of the district Dr Dawson said that he was in favour of keeping small country hospitals going, even if it was expensive to do so. They were difficult to staff, they were not very busy, and they were expensive to run, but when they were closed it deprived the local people of their own hospital and it deprived the doctor of the opportunity to treat his own moderately ill patients. Small country hospitals might well be kept, even at some expense, to bolster up the medical services of country districts.