DEMOBILISATION PLANS

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXXII, Issue 21801, 25 August 1945, Page 2

DEMOBILISATION PLANS

R.N.Z.A.F. SECTIONS MEDICAL BOARDING (P.A.) NEW PLYMOUTH, Aug. 25. The R.N.Z.A.F. mobilisation sections at army headquarters no longer exist. They will be replaced shortly by demobilisation. sections to deal with the ligiit-scale demobilisation of air force personnel. Large-scale demobilisation is to be decentralised as much as possible and three methods of medically boarding men are to be employed. A _ proportion of the men will be medically examined at R.N.Z.A.F. sta*tions provided the, establishment of the station includes two medical officers. In such cases there will be 30 medical boards at each station. Secondly, some of the remaining personnel will be posted to non-effective pools at Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch, where the numbers to be boarded each week by air force medical officers will be 126 and 100 respectively. Medical boards comprising general practitioners also will deal with personnel in these cities. The third method provides for the employment of civilian medical hoards exclusively in eight outer army areas with headquarters at Whangarei, Hamilton, New Plymouth, Napier, Nelson, Dunedin and Invercargill. In addition to the N.C.O. at present engaged at army headquarters on air force demobilisation, the sections will comprise an airman who will be responsible for clerical duties and the collection of equipment and, if necessary, a medical orderly to assist the civilian medical boards. Arrangements for the collection of equipment are' still under consideration. The bottleneck that prevents rapid demobilisation in the outer areas is the civilian medical boards, the rate of releases being determined by the availability of general practitioners to serve on medical boards.