Doctor glut looms

Press, 29 July 1978, Page 23

Doctor glut looms

PA Dunedin. The ’“New Zealand Medical Journal” has given a warning that a crisis is looming on how to deploy satisfactorily all the junior doctors whose employment is guaranteed. In a leading article which examined New Zealand’s needs and the numbers of doctors being trained, the journal said it was obvious that soon there would be more than enough local graduates to fill all positions, and the 40-hour week might become a reality for the junior hospital doctor.

However, whether he could still continue the education necessary for competent medicine in so

few hours could be questioned. The article said that, in round figures, there would be another 500 doctors by 1981 and nearly double that number in the following five years to 1986. Other than slowing the immigration of doctors, the only way to reduce the numbers, if it was considered desirable in the national interest, was to slow the intake into medical schools.

“For long enough New Zealand has been haunted by a fear of not having enough doctors, although some of the problems have been of distribution rather than absolute ones. In spite of these concerns, New Zealand’s health, as

judged by international comparisons, makes a good showing.” The journal said that, if the present economic climate continued, then some revision of the ratio of doctors to population might have to be considered. “This kind of exercise would be an invidious one and would cut across entrenched positions, but in no system is growth forever.

“Indeed, health in developed nations may be better served by too few doctors rather than by too many doctors trying to find something to do at the consumers’ expense,’’ the journal concluded.