TREATMENT OF UNFIT RECRUITS

Dominion, Volume 34, Issue 303, 19 September 1941, Page 6

TREATMENT OF UNFIT RECRUITS

It is unfortunate that circumstances are severely limiting the scheme for the medical treatment of unfit Army recruits. As was pointed out in a report on the operation of the scheme in the north (published yesterday), only those men whose unfitness is likely io be removed by a month’s treatment arc at present being dealt with. Other cases, just as potentially favourable but calling for medical attention over a longer period, are being put on one side.. As a result the Army is being deprived of the prospect of recruiting a large number of single men who have been drawn in various ballots but rejected as temporarily unfit. The limitation of the scheme is said to have been brought about in large part by shortage of hospital accommodation and medical services: No doubt this is the case, for the scheme —as far as it has been taken — appears to have shown results which more than merit development to the fullest possible extent. According to one estimate, 75 per cent, of those temporarily unfit men who have undergone treatment have subsequently been graded fit for overseas service. If this figure is anything like the average for the Dominion it icprcsents a reclamation of manpower which, in the national interest, must not be overlooked. Is anything being done about it?