MINISTER AND B.M.A.

Evening Post, Volume CXXVII, Issue 101, 2 May 1939, Page 10

MINISTER AND B.M.A.

REPLiY TO MR. FRASER

HEALTH SCHEME jj DELAY i —

"The ; attempt by the Minister of Health lithe Hon, P. Fraser) to place the responsibility for the delay in the operation of the health provisions of the Sc if :ia\ Security .A^t on the medical pr Mission cannot deceive anyone who r ras any knowledge of the facts." isaid jbr. J. P. S. Jamieson. chairman of true health insurance committee of tht Mjiaw Zealand branch Jf tht Bri tish (iledical Association, in a statement. | issued to the Fresr today. J SHIFTING THE ONUS. "T!jt!2 Minister," proceeded Dr. Jamifcson, "goes so far as to say: '"lit the association persists in its presemd. attitude, which I hope is not too! obdurate and hopeless, its responsibility in delaying, curtailing, or obstt) ucting the Government's Social S( w ,-urity health services will be very gijtiat. and the odium o* even a parti a ] prevention of the , people enjoyui.l the full benefits will inevitably be associated with thf instigators of i t;; policy. ' 'trJuch a statement emanating from Mi.*, Fraser is not what- we have been le<i to expect from him in the past, bt tl as it has been made it must be retplied to. If Mr. Fraser will only examine the position a little further h a will see that if there is any "odium" tiji be borne in the matter it must be r/laced entirely upon the shoulders of t tie Government and not upon tho jjpedical profession. This-can be readQy proved. / "The scheme is the Government's flscheme, and not that of the medical When drawing up that (scheme the Government completely disregarded the representations of the New Zealand branch of the British ■, Medical Association on th" subject. The ■ Government even found it impossible I to forward an advance copy of ihe I BilJ to the association for its advice, and the issociation only received a copy from the Minister several hours after it had been made public. "The measure was enacted according to the Government's own ideas, and the Government thus went completely over the heads of the medical profession whose services were necessary to carry it into effect. The scheme was thus entirely the Government's scheme, and if' there is any 'odium' to be attached in any failure to carry it into effect that stigma, surely, must rest with the Government and not with the profession. Ordinary common sense should have dictated that if the Government desired to carry oul* a scheme which depended upon the professional services of others it should first have made sure that it would receive the approval and co-operation of the members of the profession concerned, and have framed its proposals accordingly. Instead the Government proceeded in quite the opposit" direction. LOWERING MEDICAL STANDARD. "If the Government had considered the scheme recommended by the association, which is the only. body that is competent to speak with knowledge on the subject, it would have secured, not only the wholehearted approval, but active co-operation of the whole of the members of the profession. "Instead, against all ; advice from experienced, practical men, it has produced a scheme which the medical profession conscientiously believes would, in operation, lower the standard of medical practice in New Zealand, and this being .the case the medical profession would certainly be acting contrary to their sense of public duty if they attempted to carry it out. "I ask Mr. Fraser what he -would do in such circumstances. I submit that he would certainly adopt t!he same attitude as we have done. "CONTRACTING IN" OPTIONAL. "If Mr. Fraser will re-read the Act he will find that there is a provision for medical men contracting in dtor service under it, this being eaitirely optional. I put it to him, therefore; that if members of the medical profession throughout New Zealand.; do not contract in under the Act they cannot be held to blame, and he should! be the first to say so. What blame or 'odium,' then, can be attached;to the medical profession when they actually exercise the .right given to them by the Government under the Act by not accepting contracts? "Another statement made by the Minister is that 'the Parliament and the people of New Zealand ha.ye declared against the association's limited scheme and in favour of the Government's Social Security health proposals.' This statement cannot be accepted by the association. Ceritainly Parliament approved the Government's scheme, but whether the pecgsle of New Zealand did so in regai?d, to its health proposals is quite another question Their action did not rvecessarily affirm or reject the association's scheme Such a statement, on/c Hvay or the other, could only be proved by a referendum . ' AT LEAST A YEAR BEHIND. "A further point I wish to make at this stage," concluded Dr. JaKrtieson, "is that, while the Minister seebsi to place the blame on the profession for delay or non-fulfilment of the heaH'b scheme, the truth is that, even if the profession were ready and willing to Accept it at once, tht Government could not put it into operation. We are but now at a stage \vV ich should h^ve been reached at lea.«jt a year before legislation was enacted."