TRINING OF MIDWIVES.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 232, 24 June 1908, Page 2

TRINING OF MIDWIVES.

THE GOVERNMENT'S INTENTIONS,

STATEMENT BY THE HON. G. FOWLDS. (or TELEGRAPH. —SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT.) . Auckland, June 23. There has been an agitation for some time to havo tho lectures at the St. Helens Hospital opened to outsido midwives, aud a 'deputation waited on tho Hon. G. Fowlda in the matter.

In reply the Minister ntated clearly the attitude of tho Department. He said in tho first place it would appear from sometiling published in.the Press as if the establishment of St. Helens had shut the door on the methods of training of midwives that existed previously to the establishment of the institution. This was hardly true. It was a fact that in some of the larger ho&pitals more or less spasmodic efforts were made by the honorary staff to give lectures to some of the nurses on midwifery, but they never had in any of these institutions tho number of patients available to give anything like a practical training in n\idwifory, so that the establishment of .St. Helens, instead of shutting any door, was an addition to tho existing opportunities for acquiring skill .in the profession of midwifery. It seemed to be an impression that the Governtnent legislation- prevented- the people who had the training that was : iu vogue hefore St. Helens was established, and who acted as "monthly" nurses, from carrying oil their profession. That was no so: they were free to obtain the same training as they got before St. Helens was started, and it was open to them .to carry on, their business under the superintendence of a doctor. The only restriction tho law imposed was the undertaking of a case on theifr own responsibility where a medical man was available. Of courso, no law would prevent one woman assisting another if there was no doctor available. In connection, -with • the training at St. Helens, continued. the Minister, it had to bo borne in mind that what was specifically required 1 by the Departihent was the evidence of practical training in addition to theoretical. The certificate carried with it authority for the midwifo to undertako a case by herself without the assistance of a, medical man at all. Any certificate that conferred authority for that must bo backed by very complete evidence of both practical or theoretical training. There was nothing in the law now to pro vent those who were only partially trained undertaking cases under tho supervision of a medical man. Vi'ith reference to the question of lectures. at. St. Helens, it was found that the-system worked unsatisfactorily. ; The Government was perfectly willing to provide the lectures apart from St; Helens, and.'to assist midwives as far as possible in becoming efficient in their profession, but the admission of them, to lectures, at St. Helens, and letting them go without the Government being able know whether they had sufficient practical training,-and yet giving them a practical certificate.-that of having attended at St. Helens lectures, was altogether a different matter. If women had'been under the tuition of a trained midwife capable of giving the necessary instruction, and they had had _ a sufficient number of, cases, and then availed themselves of the lectures, the Government was willing to provide. -He saw no objection then to their being: admitted to an examination and receiving certificates, but apart from that the best' way to get hold of the old midwife class was-by means of those special lectures that the . Government had already offered to provide, and was; willing to provide in all the centres of the Dominion, so as to make them as efficient as possible,' for after all it -was those people, under the, superintendence ,of the family doctor, who would have to do tho nursing amongst the. poor. - One of the principal i tilings the lat-o Mr. Seddon had' in View was the training of midwives who would be able to go to the backblocks, and in-.such cases it was absolutely essential that tfyey should-, Jiave that training that would-ien-nble them to undertake; cases without .the supervision of a doctor. •- v : - J- .