ON DOCTOR’S LIST

Dominion, Volume 35, Issue 8, 4 October 1941, Page 11

ON DOCTOR’S LIST

Mr. Bodkin Gives His Reasons REPLY TO MINISTER A statement by the Minister of Health, Mr. Nordmeyer, that Mr. Bodkin (Opposition, Central Otago) was himself on a. doctor’s capitation list provoked a discussion. Mr. Bodkin in reply said that he, his wife and .his daughter were all on the list, but purely nominally, as the Minister knew. Their purpose was not to get free medical service, but to retain a doctor in the district. . During discussion on the Social Security Amendment Bill, Mr. Bodkin said that, though he was not a wealthy man, he did not think it was the duty of the Government to collect taxation from poor people to make a medical service available to him. .Replying, the Minister expressed regret that the member for Central Otago was not in the Chamber. He said that his information was that Mr. Bodkin had actually exercised his right and was on the capitation list of a doctor operating the scheme. That, of course, was all to the good. The Leader of the Opposition, Mr. Holland: Do you think it right to mention a thing like that in the House? The Minister: Perfectly, in view of what has been said. » Mr. Holland: It is confidential information from a doctors list. Mr. Polson (Opposition, Stratford). The secrecy is gone. That is what we are complaining about. It is an utterly disgraceful thing. The Minister: There is no secrecy about it. It is perfectly competent for anyone to go on a doctors list. When Mr. Bodkin returned to the Chamber he said: “I understand that the Minister of Health has made a statement that I have a contract with a panel doctor. lam surprised at the honourable gentleman, but people who know him better may not be.” He went on to say that his own doctor lived in Dunedin and his child who was at scliool iii tlic North Island had a doctor there. He had called on the- Minister and pointed out to him the case of a district where a doctor was not able to make a living. They had discussed ways and means of building up a practice that would enable a doctor to stay in the district. It was decided that the only way would be to adopt the panel system. He said that he and his wife would join up, and asked whether his daughter at school in the North Island could be included. The doctor concerned had never prescribed for any member of his family and was not likely to do so. ‘‘Now it goes over the air that I am trying to get services for which I am not prepared to pay,” said Mr. Bodkin. “The Minister knows perfectly well that I was trying to keep a doctor in a district which had lost one. I am surprised at his statement. He may think that is clean politics, but I am not prepared to call it that.” The Minister of Finance, Mr. Nash, said that the important point to be made clear was that the Minister had not divulged information gained from a doctor’s list, but had been given the facts he mentioned in the course of a conversation with Mr. Bodkin. There was no need to give an assurance that any person’s private business would not be disclosed.