N.Z. DOCTORS’ INCOMES

Grey River Argus, 5 October 1945, Page 5

N.Z. DOCTORS’ INCOMES

MANY-TOO HIGH ? I Salaried Service Urged P.A. WELLINGTON, Oct. 4. The placing of the _ medical profession on a salary basis, operated by national authorities, was advocated in the Legislative Council to-day by Hon. j'. K. Archer (C'hristchurcn). He said that the present earnings ot some doctors were simply preposterous. Me. Archer also criticised what he described as the 'unnecessary orders on chemists for pharmaceutical supplies. . , Mr. Archer said that the' high earnings of private medical men were creeping difficulties for the Hospital Boards. The doctors who worked for the Hospital Boards either parttime or whole-time were, not meanly remunerated, but attention was being drawn, by some doctors, to a very great difference between the earnings of the doctors employed by the boards and those in private practice. The problem would be solved if there were a salaried profession. The doctors outside the Hospital Boards could to their own work as medical men, but the financial side of their life should be operated by national authorities. Mr. Archei said he was astonished at the ease with which many doctors gave orders on chemists for pharmaceutical supnlies He believed that many doctors, nerhaps to satisfy the sometimes heedless demands of patients, wrote out orders on chemists to an unnecessary extent. To some extent the public money was wasted, and he thought it might be better if all the doctors had to mix their own concoctions. ..