Prof. Bonham mystified

Press, 15 October 1976, Page 4

Prof. Bonham mystified

PA Wellington Professor D. G. Bonham, the man in the centre of the row leading to the Opposition call for the resignation of the Minister of Health (Mr Gill), is mystified by his dismissal from a Health Department consultancy.

“I know of no reason why the Health Department should have been dissatisfied with my advice,” he said last evening, from his home in Auckland. “They gave me no reasons. I have always had a satisfactory relationship with the department.”

Professor Bonham held the post as obstetrics consultant to the department for eight years, and is also head of the post-graduate School of Obstetrics and Gynaecology at Auckland University. Last July, Mr Gill wrote to him, saying that he did not want him to continue.

“It came as a surprise," said Professor Bonham. “I had enjoyed the work. I

thought that I could do something for the women and children of New Zealand through that position.” Mr Gill had given no reason in the letter, other than that Professor Bonham had held the consultancy post for some time.

“I do not relish this publicity,” he said. “This whole thing is unfortunate — but politics is politics, and if you are on the fringe of politics you get involved.”

He was a member of no political party, nor had he joined any pro-abortion or anti-abortion group. “I have no explanation for Mr Gill’s action. I can only assume the Minister has ideas of his own,” he said. Professor Bonham has not met Mr Gill. But he feels his professional standing has been harmed by the dismissal. He also agreed that the report on maternity services he had helped write had been published without its summary and recommendations. But he doubted that there was anything personal in this. “It was probably just a mistake,” he said. “I am sure it was not personal."