NO CO-OPERATION BY DOCTORS

Dominion, Volume 34, Issue 126, 21 February 1941, Page 8

NO CO-OPERATION BY DOCTORS

B.M.A. President’s Statement ATTITUDE IS STILL UNCHANGED Doctors belonging io the British Medical Association will not co-operate in the general practitioner scheme, stated the president of the New Zealand branch of the 8.M.A., Dr. J. P. S. Jamieson, of Nelson, last night. lie said that the attitude of Hie association was unaltered. Dr. Jamieson said the Government bad not consulted the association any further, in arranging the details of (he scheme. The association was still entirely opposed to it ; its attitude was absolutely unchanged. Asked if doctors belonging to the asscociation would be willing to provide the benefits prescribed, Dr. Jamieson replied that there would lx,* uo co-opera-tion from the assoeiatioii in the scheme, lie did not know where the Government was going to find enough general practitioners to put the scheme into practice; certainly not from the medical profession in New Zealand. He suggested that, the question was one the Government itself might best be able to answer. He certainly could not. “They won’t get any sort of general practitioner service worth Ihe name, he said. The reference to 'egislatiou to be Introduced at the next, session of Parliament to ensure that doctors serving in the armed forces should on their ieturn bo guaranteed an income commensurate with that they were receiving before departure had uo doubt introduced to meet the association s objection that these doctors would be placed at a disadvantage. “Whatever they legislate, we prefer to keep our safetv in our own hands, he said. “We prefer to continue to manage our own affairs.”