The Dominion MONDAY. NOVEMBER 18, 1918. AN ORGANISED EFFORT

Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 45, 18 November 1918, Page 4

The Dominion MONDAY. NOVEMBER 18, 1918. AN ORGANISED EFFORT

Serious as the situation still is hero and in some other parts of the Dominion, there is satisfactory evidence that the organisation needed to cope with the epidemic is being perfected rapidly and on right lines. All over Wellington and in its suburban areas volunteer committees arc now working _ actively and methodically. There is still <i great need for additional workers, but the initial work of organisation has been well done, and a vast amount of useful service has already ken rendered, with results of untold benefit to those members of the. community who have had the misfortune to be stricken down with the prevailing malady. No doubt scope will still appear for extending and elaborating in various ways the ex : cellent work that is being done by the volunteer committees. Judging, however, by the showing they have-, already made, these bodies, provided they are adequately reinforced, will he found equal to any demands that may arise, The big step which remains to be taken is that of organising our limited force of, medical practitioners in' such a manner that their devoted labours will toll with the' utmost effect. We hope to see this very necessary step taken at once. The Minister of Public Health was in consultation with local members of the medical faculty at' the end ..of last week. What the outcome was has not been disclosed, but there is to be another meeting to-day, and no doubt an arrangement will be made under which doctors will be enabled to fight the epidemic on a methodical plan instead of being condemned as at present to scatter their energies in attempting to cope with calls from all parts of the metropolitan area.

The plan of dividing tho city into districts, each of them served by a doctor, is so obviously .-right and necessary that its adoption is not likely to be seriously opposed by doctors as a class or by anybody else It is simply a matter of, acting with the energy and decision that ■ are demanded in a grave emergency. Such objection* as have been raised to the organisation of the medical faculty to fight tho epidemic serve only to emphasise tho necessity of .taking this rational step. It has been said, for instance, that people are insisting upon sending for their own doctors, and are disinclined to turn to those with whom they are unfamiliar. This is quite true, and the facts supply one of the best reasons for making the change suggested. At a time,like this: it is impossible to allow the largely sentimental preference that people have for their own , doctor to stand in the way of an efficient organisation of medical services. Tho necessity of breaking into the established lines of medical practice is to bo -regretted for a number of reasons, but count for little in the circumstances that have now arisen. In practice the existing state of affairs moans that doctors are condemned in some degree to waste their skill and energies. It means, on occasion, that they are called upon to visit patients whose need is not urgent while sufferers whose need is extreme go unattended. Cases have occurred also in which a doctor has called to find that .his yisit-has been anticipated by that of another medical practitioner, even, in some caseSj that two other doctors had called before him. With a serious epidemic in progress these things cannot be allowed to continue. The skill of our available doctors has become a priceless asset. As a matter of com-raon-sonse it must be turned in every way to the best account and made as freely as possible available. This, we are confident, is the view of the matter that will be taken by the medical profession in general, whatever individual and isolated objections may be raised. Unless we are much mistaken, the admirable spirit of self-sacrifice in which ourdoctors have acted since the present emergency arose will prompt them to loyally co-operate in an arrangement—tho only arrangement—which will enable them to concentrate and systematise their efforts for the public good. Co-operation in such a plan as we advocate will not by any means be wholly a matter of sacrifice where the doctors are concerned. The interference with established practices is,, of course, unfortunate. On the other hand, as matters stand doctors are being worked to death, and the only way to as far as pos"sible relieve the strain is to develop a rational organisation suited to tho emergency. There is, of course, no suggestion of subordinating the members of the medical faculty or interfering with their professional authority and discretion. Iα tho fight that is now being waged they are and must be the directing brains of the community, and all that is demanded is that they should bo enabled to concentrate their own efforts and supervise to the besteffect tho activities of tho volunteer organisations that have been called into existence.