THE MEDICAL FACULTY

Evening Star, Issue 21593, 13 December 1933, Page 2

THE MEDICAL FACULTY

EMBARRASSING INCREASE Of STUDENTS DEAN'S ANNUAL REPORT Among the matters mentioned in the annual report of the Medical Faculty of the Otago University, which was presented to the University Council yesterday afternoon by the dean (Sir Lindo Ferguson), was the question of limiting the number of entrants to the Medical School, being stated that the increase in numbers had been embarrassing from many points of view. The dean referred also to the urgency of the new maternity hospital. “The number of students in the school is 345, an increase of forty-eight beyond the numbers recorded in my last report, a state of affairs which was forecast in that document,” stated the report. “ This increase of numbers has . been embarrassing from many points of view, and the question of maintaining a steady output of gradu-’ ates by limiting the numbers of our entering classes has again been under serious consideration. The University of New Zealand has consented to place candidates for the intermediate examination in order of merit to enable us to take the cream of the class and fix the numbers we admit to the school at such a level as will bo most suitable with regard to our teaching facilities and the annual demand for new practitioners. It is probable that we may obtain some help in the way of reports from the principals of the various high schools as to character and personality of candidates, which may help to guide ns in making our selection. The probability is that we shall obtain the greatest efficiency by limiting the number of entrants to the school to somewhere between fifty and sixty. Three students qualified at the special examination in May and thirty-four in December, making a total of thirtyseven. “ I regret to report that the urgent matter of the new maternity hospital had not yet been taken in hand by the Government. The promises which were made some years ago have not been fulfilled, and the Government has shown a very definite desire to postpone any expenditure in this direction. The Hospital Board has offered to provide a suitable site for the building, and, after many negotiations, sketch plans for a hospital which will, fill the needs of the community for many years to come and at the same time afford ns the requisite accommodation for students, have been sent to Wellington. “ Our latest information is that the plans in the main have been approved, but that the Minister is endeavouring to throw part of the cost of erection on the Hospital Board. It is particularly unfortunate that in New Zealand the training of the medical profession should be influenced by the decisions of so many unrelated bodies and individuals. The question of a maternity hospital depends on the decision of the Minister for Health, while the grants for school purposes come out of the amount controlled by the Minister for Education.

“ The question of hospital expenditure depends on the Hospital Board, which naturally resists any tendency to an increase in its expenditure attributable in any way to the presence of the school. The University Council, which is nominally the body in control of the school, has really very little to say in the matter. I have been assured that some definite offer from the Minister to the Hospital Board will shortly be forthcoming, but to put the matter

briefly the efficiency of our teaching and the training of the profession of the future is atr'present being prejudiced by a haggle between the Minister of Health and the Hospital Board as to whether a few thousand pounds should come out of the general revenue of the country through the Health Department vote or should be a charge on the ratepayers of Dunedin. “ The scheme of post-graduate scholarships in obstetrics continues to work smoothly, and for next year the Auckland scholarship has been awarded to Dr Stoneham, who will proceed to Melbourne in three months’ time.

“ None of our heads of departments has been absent from the school during the year, but Dr Britton, who has been doing advanced work in London, and should have returned to his duties here next March, has accepted another appointment, and his -services are lost to ns. If the school is to maintain its efficiency some effort will have to be made to render the assistant position oppointments sufficiently attractive to retain the services of our men when once they have become efficient. Dr Britton cannot be blamed for accepting a position of £6OO a year, rising to £750, when the council does not offer more than half -that amount without prospects of improvement. _ Dr Malcolm is going to be very seriously handicapped next year in losing Dr Edson, whose services to the department have been of very great value, and whose departure we regret. I have for years been urging the importance _of strengthening our services of assistants, and 1 must warn the council once again that the present state of affairs is eminently unsatisfactory. “ During tho year we have received the resignation of Dr Hall, owing to his state of health, and 1 desire to express thanks to him for his services as a teacher over a long series of years, and deep regret at the circumstances which have led to the termination of his connection with the University. “ During the yegr research work into the subjects of goitre and cancer have been pursued and both the goitre and cancer clinics have been of considerable value. The Emily Johnson Research Scholarship, which I referred to in my last report, has not yet come into active operation, but the Hospital Board has afforded the necessary help without which the scholarship could hardly be of any practical use, by consenting to the scholar being resident in the Dunedin Hospital. “ In my last report I expressed the hope that, with the increasing revenue arising from the larger classes, it would bo possible for the council to reconsider some of the drastic economies it has been enforcing. These _ economies, which were very oppressive, resulted last year in a margin being shown in the school accounts which was promptly deducted from the next grant to the school. “ I must again gratefully acknowledge the devotion Of the teaching staff and express my thanks to Dr Kerens for his assistance as sub-dean.” The dean of tho Faculty was thanked for his report, which was referred to the Medical Committee, a copy to bo forwarded to the New Zealand University Senate.