ORGANISE AND WIN

Dominion, Volume 8, Issue 2515, 17 July 1915, Page 3

ORGANISE AND WIN

iTHE MEDICAL PROFESSION. (To tho Editor.) Sir, —The .opinion of one medical man is no guarantee of a like opinion in others. I offer this solely as tho opinion of one with fifteen years' experience -in practice, eighteen months of wliich have been spent dn war service, and eleven in medical organisation. We have,, in New Zealand, apparently reached nearly the limit of voluntary medical service. It is necessary, therefore, to. consider the position, since hint, of a. conflict 'hovers on the air.

Medical men are wanted. Can they lie spared? Medical , men are badly wanted. Can they bo made to go ? These are the stages, at the moment. It will stave off a lot of trouble if wo get this clearly into our minds first. Medicalmen do not belong to the State, any more or any less than others. The State cannot organise them, .even iw.-a timd of national danger, anyimoro or any . less than others. Medical men have passed the'examinations the State requires, have registered,' and .so earn,ed ■ civil rights. Having done so they have settled down in "some spot where they believe a livelihood is to be earned, by hard work and application. If. successful in all this they will have spent riot less than £3000. (An estimate ha'sed upon' very low figures). The expenditure of this sum being, reasonably expected to furnish the basis of ,a living wage for future years.

Let us look next at tho rates of pay offered to'medical men, during this war.- In New Zealand .the State offered 15s. a day, or £5_ 55., a week, to doctors wlio should give t'heir services for the period of tho war, and £20. for outfit. She offered nothing a,t the termination of the war. Tho United Kingdom offered 245. a day, or £8 Bs. a week,* £30 for outfit, plus a bat, or gratuity, of £60 on termination of service. Notwithstanding the. great disparity in the rates here, £300 a year against £450 a year, plus £60.gratuity, very many/ medical men of ' high attainments, as well as those of recent qualifications offered tlieir services' and arc serving.

Medical men are still required. Tlio suggestion- is therefore made that medical men should be organised. The State would see "that no district would bo left without a doctor," and would take what she wanted. Let us assume, for the sake of argument, that in New Zealand . some, medical meu accepted • these low rates because thoy hoped to gain in experience during, and in kudos after, the war; so. making up their loss. That others, and by far the larger number, moved by the spirit which has animated the'meii generally throughout the ranks, offered themselves without mercenary consideration whatever, sacrificing their present security. At the present time nearly all tlio me.i who could go havo gone. Remains a deficit, which it is suggested may be mado good by organisation. That is to say compulsion. Whether acquiesced in or no, compulsion. It is 'as well for us to understand clearly that no individual in the State could suffer more by such a procedure than a medical man. Business men, farmers, land agents, shopmen, storekeepers, clergymon, working. men, can all be taken, and can find their jobs' or businesses when they return as good as when they left th'cni. ' 111 somo cases more prosperous and better because of the war. Others can carry on their jobs for them, without obtaining complete possession of their capital. In many cases without even using up their income.

In the case of a medical man, remove him even for three months away from those surroundings, which by'his own personality and influence lie has manufactured into a business; ihat business is dead, stone dead. He is the machine, tho goods. The State will, oo can, do nothing for him when he returns to that place. On whatever day he returns he must start afresh, re-manufacturing his business. All the best intentions in the world will not alter that prime ' basic fact. Yet the suggestion that he should be so removed is made in sober earnest by men of education and position, here in Now Zealand. In the United Kingdom, the _ State guarantees, in a sense, a certain income by at least a minimum number of contract patients, because of the millions under the National Insunneo Bill: A nucleus, indeed, but a bad and amentable one at that. So poor are the conditions ruling now, both here and in-tho United Kingdom, that many hundreds fewer doctors are produced each year. That is the direct.result of an economic fnpfc It is not worth wide to face the expenses .and hardship of a ten years, apprenticeship to a teada which is uncertain and undependable. In towns in New Zealand where there are "ood hospitals, certain members of the professioiOobtain posts oil the staffs; enabling them to carry on their .work with tlm certainty of scientific interest, under good scientific conditions Nothing hut cyclone pan remove them fromjhoso RpgtSi-

No others can, obtain them, until a kindly death or two severs the lingering connection. 'The rest of the protession remains, and, as years go on, become disheartened at the absence of those scientific surroundings under which they have been taugiit to work. They earn a ■ living, truly enough, and by means of constant reading and subscribing to the various medical publications, maintain the standard:of their work. Work constantly more exacting. It is not how much there is to know, nowadays. It is how much-more thero is to know, each day. A inedical man is not judged by his successes, he is expected to bo successful. If he succeeds, it is! nothing unusual. If ho fails, the public Balaam "terms the ass "incompetent." It is this condition of affairs into which the State step's, in tho hour of national dangciv Herself has done nothing for theso men, nothing, in the time of peace. Not even to protect the public from tho foullest quackery. Now, because of'tho apatiiy of tho past, the Stato springs to a sudden realisation of her wants.

"AVo will take these men," she says, '■'not because we deserve them', but because we find wo cannot do without them.' We will ruin them now sinco wo liavo neglected them hitherto. They are nccessary, and if tho members,, cannot see it, . they must. be made to see it. By accepting our terms and going back into oblivion when wo havo dono with them. If they become sick or crippled, that is 'their business. They are doctors!"

Nothing can bei more amusing, really, than this attitude.: Oddly enough, no-' thing is less amusing, because tho medical men would give their souls to go. Thero is'that in them all which makes them fret, when wounds and' sickness grow.' They want to help, because it is their, training.. It is a job they know. _ Illness breeds sympathy; these men would give their souls to go.' ■It is for you to offer a solution. Let us examino what is to bo done. First of all, .what is. wrong? Not sickness aloue, surely? Don't we ,hear < ; things, about shortage in arms, ; in )ifles, bayonets, belts, and cartridges and shells? In ships ai;d men? If that is so, then medical men aro not the only things which'need, putting on an organised basis. ' A solution, then,'.is easy. '

Organise tho" nation. Compel everybody to fight: or work. Tho medical men must come. That is tho solution Abraham Lincoln chose in harder times than these, and with a much moro unwilling nation. That is how North beat South in 1804. If we have no Abraham Lincoln in this country, then wo must pay for it. That is the trouble with' these voluntary things. They cost so much.' If tho State wants those medical men who cannot go, by reason of their liabilities, their mortgages, their families, and so on, then she must face it as a business proposition; Jailing" to take everybody, which is the statesmanlike solution.

The State should offer larger, pay than the United' Kingdom; Living hero is more than- twico as dear. These medical men must leave their wives and families; there is no reason why they should suffer hardship. The State should give these men enough when they return to enable them to start , again, calculated on the income they are earning now. The State could guarantee on their return, a working staff appointment on every local hospital, with' a minimum of so many beds. These are the tilings the State could do, if it must take these men. Useless to say they ought to go. Of course they ought; but not more or less than others. If the nation cannot make up its mind to .go in as a nation, then, we say frankly, four , hundred pounds a year is not enough to a highly-trained man for services; which_ others cannot do. If we could all get it in our heads that we aro being oeaten, we should Win. Until wo do, a lot of people will continue talking nonsense. That is the position in a nutshell.—l am, etc., VERITAS. l'almerston North.