NOT YET SETTLED

Evening Post, Volume CXXIII, Issue 140, 15 June 1937, Page 8

NOT YET SETTLED

The Minister of Health states that "practically all the statements which have been made so far concerning the Government's proposals for a national health insurance scheme arc pure conjecture." We assume that the term "practically all" excludes the statement made by the president of the New Zealand Branch of the British Medical Association, which, though personal, represented the general views of the association. The Minister declares, however, (hat no decision has yet been reached regarding the scope of the scheme. This is one of ihe principal questions involved in discussions with the medical profession, and until it is decided criticism would be premature. It is particularly necessary that nothing should be said at the present stage which would prejudice future discussions. If a plan is to be accepted which will be fair to all sections of the contributing public (and not merely one section) and fair also to the profession which will contribute service, hasty judgments must be avoided. It is not only unfair to the doctors whose careers are involved, but a grave disservice to the public to suggest, as a correspondent did on Friday, that doctors who have not accepted the Government's proposals are actuated by self-interest. For generations, the medical profession has given much service without fee or reward. The profession is continuing to give that service. Accusations of self-interest suggest that because the doctors have not sounded a trumpet before them in the synagogues arid the streets when doing their alms their service has been forgotten.