GENERAL PRACTITIONERS’ SERVICE

Grey River Argus, 21 May 1941, Page 8

GENERAL PRACTITIONERS’ SERVICE

By

Dr. B. H. S. Aylward

’£.* This week it is proposed to discuss the attitude of the Medical Association, and the reasons foi tia . ..attitude, f<U ’ ~ /..AL The usual argument brought forward against tn ~ scheme, is that the standard of the doctors’ work ui l. ie , As was pointed out in last week’s article there s'eehis to be .110 real reason why this should, be so. Anot-iei . objection is that it is socialising the- medical profession. .. - certainly is a step in that direction. To many people,meluding the present -writer, this is an argument in at our » of the schemed

■ objection often heard is that ifcwillXincrease considerably the work the doctors have to do, and >'■ that, depleted as their numbers are in war time,’ they will not be able to. contend with the extra claims on their services. This, surely, is an ad--mission that the public do not at d-- present - get the. medical services they require. The writer’s exper--Uience'is that there is an Increase in -■ V-the calls on-his services, although it 3'C 'is not as marked as one would have y-U expected, and that the number of unnecessary calls is remarkably few. ML The so far, have shown ? t -nb. sign of abusing the free pracservice. : Anyway/ if we have not enough ■ ’ .‘doctors the remedy is simple. There •a . are quite 4,. number of very highly qualified "'medical men, anti-FasciSc. ■ .. from Europe, who would ' gratefully accept the opportunity of ■ f practising their profession in New /. Zealand, if they were allowed to. " asons jf nr their hen asked -\" fijFie Governp t Vie Cularly obpn to be unment oT g concrete. It M wV&tvC?-! undefined fW .a general pedplMiprting, it is £ undefined disliJ«gG e ,dl reason is ly f, oUsd&uy, fqund tffiL -p) admit even lj> ’ '/unconscious-I j&: y ,}<,/ftnbniselves. -Wtlfeasons when fy-V) Suppress dur reaimentally unmake us bressed them. if we #thing, have a • e ix° bject . to ' a c wn very strong, ,T. inst explain logiM'. -iV 10Ut 'u being ablWooctors may be K we dqZ . XX/a :^* s ' '/sp’of citizens, the V / do^rs^ a - opposing a new theh ; cco ?°™ c the rest of the is wlia( the I^Bpschen^SJl^Br B to ’ when the large people stand to debenefits ... fr™ .fhe.if' approval. rci ca P itr 1 ,sts - P enny Ihey can Theirs is a hutheir serve an d help must be a s uM"?MM”^' j op ' \> ‘I- . XlB that the reasons t° say the least we had better rea son, not organisation of ssame as the unions of workers, with 1 difference that are oranisations their interests interests of the crests of the leadas those of the ■jng in-

**■?>; ‘ origin of ' i** 'i V.'Z’Kund in the S Ages. On ?G ■' -S'* Bdrs Sidney S-;f C-;? Trades ' ‘Bans, Green S’2: S-/■'. ‘‘*S’.i'”.-S'*:Ht research '"•■'/rbS.S-j <z-?'" i*’' ! 'i’'->'*’B any trade •JJi-jC'r.'SS? '■ arise, z. from a We I'' —w revolt tht -F E gvp t_ 1490 B.C. This H|B|HBffß>me organisation beainly not a union as them to-day. firmly believes that BB|Bionism such as we know it HBBWfiad its roots''in Italy nearly BUly centuries before the advent of ■Christ ■ For there can be no doubt [that the trade unionists of antiquity Lwere organised in great interdepend|rent industries. unions (collegia) of ancient Rome were public bodies employed by state and municipality. For six hundred years they flourished uninterruptedly, until B.C. 58, when the right of combination (jus cocundii was for the first tfme restrained by Julius, X’aesar. TheL’/ectuarii, or carriers’ union, provisioned Rome by sea and land. Grainto be conveyed from Lugdijmirr (Lyons). union saw it d°\w&he Rhjshc on barges to the ztTie river, whence it was ■ '"’jf-k.V B : WW ■ •

or less the same as those of their patients, as they depend on them for their living, unless their patients can Xd to employ them they cannot survive. The leaders of the B.M.A. are usually specialists and d° ct °_U who depend for their living on the richer members of the co • But why do the majority of the pro Son, who look after the Poorer members of society, allow this minority of leaders to pursue a policy opposed to the interests of the malority? <• Loyalty to the leaders, and fear ot being ostracized if they object seems to be an important reason. And we must always remember that doctors usually associate with the richer members of the community, and have the same social outlook. The medical profession has always been a sort of appendage of the rich.

The Real Reason Under the present system a minority of the doctors look after the rich, and make a pretty good thing out of it, while the majority, each of them, look after many more poor people, and make much less out of it.

The Govrerimcnt scheme is going to reverse this to some extent. The doctors with large practices, mostly poor, will be getting higher incomes, while the rich class practice will be less lucrative. Is it not natural that the doctors of the rich should object? As most doctors, until they become old and disillusioned, live in hopes of acquiring a rich practice, is it to be wondered at that they also, although it is against their real interests, object? This is probably the most important reason why doctors as a group oppose the scheme. They associate their interests with the interests of the rich. Scheme Will Benefit Doctors The scheme holds out many real advantages to the doctors. The majority of them will certainly earn more money, there will be practically no bills to send out, no accounts to be kept. No more dunning of the poor devil who cannot pay. The doctor's income will not fluctuate to anv extent. And above all he will be :t> disregard the financial aspect . \elv in his dealings with his

transported by another union to Ostia, the port of Rome, on board ship. Thence another union conveyed it up the Tiber a distance of eighteen miles to the city.

At this stage it was turned over to the united millers (pistores), and from them to the united bakers (panifices), who converted it , into bread. /■

So it wa's with all products of that time. Nor did this wonderful interdependence end here. There Is good reason to believe that the public domain (ager publicus) was cultivated, not so much by individual peasants, as by unions or communes of peasants working under cormnonwealtn superintendence.

So it was, too, with the metalworkers. The mines, like the ager publicus, belonged for the most part to the government, which very frequently let them to the elected officials of the miners’ u nion. in turn turned over the ore to the smelters’ union, who in turn supplied the other unionist workers in iron, copper, brass and bronze with the raw materials of their trades.

The ancient collegia, or unions, had in truth worked out a practical system of national co-uperation of marvellous simplicity and universality. And, best of alf, left no room for the profit-mongers. But for the demon of war and the cancer of slavery, they would probably have solved the labour problem three cenuries B.C.