Voluntary work praised

Press, 13 October 1982, Page 5

Voluntary work praised

PA Dunedin Voluntary organisations such as the Plunket Societyshould have their place in the health care system preserved. said the Minister of Health. Mr Malcolm, on Monday evening.

Opening the seventy-fifth general conference of the society in Dunedin. Mr Malcolm said the best health measures were not always the most expensive. “The ever present problem is that the State sector, armed with clumsy good intentions and major financial resources, will trample on the tender seedbeds that are the territory of the voluntary agencies," Mr Malcolm said. “While public focus is often on what people think the Government should be doing, we should sometimes more correctly focus on what

the Government should not be doing, in order to let the voluntary agencies have a fair opportunity to get on with their jobs."

The work of voluntary agencies fitted in well with the Government's stated policy of returning the emphasis to primary health care, Mr Malcolm said.

He was heartened by the tenor of the recent child health report, which, he said, included several constructive recommendations, many of which would not be expensive to implement.

He said the Plunket child car safety seat rental scheme had been successful in helping shift public opinion towards the need for child restraints in motor vehicles.