THE DOCTORS’ STAND

Dominion, Volume 34, Issue 158, 31 March 1941, Page 6

THE DOCTORS’ STAND

In the public controversy now proceeding on the question of the operation of the medical benefits scheme, issues are being raised which tend to obscure the main position. The very real practical difficulty involved in the'introduction of a scheme of universal free medical benefits at a time when the country is at war and the ranks of the medical profession have been heavily drawn upon for war service, is almost completely ignored.’ Even if every ‘doctor throughout the country came into the scheme, that difficulty would still remain, and it is one of the many reasons — a very sound reason, too —why the Medical Association has refused to be identified with the scheme as at present framed.

As has been pointed out on numerous occasions, the medical profession has been experiencing the greatest difficulty in meeting with its greatly diminished personnel the calls upon its time and energies, quite apart from the extra burdens which would be added by the introduction of the free services. It must be obvious to. the public, though the Government refuses to face the fact, that this, additional pressure would inevitably have at least some prejudicial effect on the quality of the services rendered. Is it fair to the doctors that they should be placed in this false position? Is it fair to the public that the doctors should be further handicapped by the sheer difficulties of time and space in relation to their reduced numbers from giving the service they consider necessary in the public interest?

This is a practical difficulty. The Government persists in ignoring it, but it will not be solved by ignoring it. On the contrary, it will become magnified as time goes on. It is a curious thing that the Government, which on occasion has shown itself capable of recognizing the expediency of postponing contentious domestic legislation, should refuse to lay aside a scheme so fruitful of contention, and dissatisfactions, as the free medical service proposals as now framed. It should see, as the public no doubt fully appreciates, the great difficulty, and consequently the inadvisability, of attempting to introduce a scheme of this kind when the essential services for its application have been so much thrown out of gear by the war’.

It should see, also, that the scheme involves a still further drain on the pockets of the people generally, for the Social Security taxation now operating will not meet the cost and the ordinary sources of taxation must be drawn on for additional contributions. All this is at a time when war burdens are piling up and our resources will be taxed to the uttermost by the demands of our war efforts. There is an astonishing lack of practical common sense in the manner in which the Government is pressing forward with its medical benefits scheme in face of the conditions which prevail in New Zealand today and which threaten in the months lying immediately ahead.