NO SHORTAGE OF DOCTORS IN N.Z.

Northern Advocate, 10 December 1936, Page 3

NO SHORTAGE OF DOCTORS IN N.Z.

PROBLEM IS ONE OF DISTRIBUTION

[Per Press Association. -• Copyright.!

DUNEDIN, This Day

“It is freely stated that there is a shortage of medical men in New Zealand,” stated Sir Lindo Ferguson to the Otago University Council yesterday.

“The question arises, 1 ” he said, “whether the annual increment to the register suffices. It is a fact that registered members have increased much more rapidly than the population served. In 1918 there were 969 medical men registered, with a population of 1.171,000; in 1936 there were 1410, for a population of 1,400,000. The question is not a shortage of doctors, but rather their distribution.

“The position, as far as the medical school is concerned, is that it is educating a larger number of graduates than the community can find work for, and an increasing number, after holding resident positions, are seeking outlets beyond the Dominion.

“Of 33 students who graduated in 1933, 27 are in London for postgraduate experience. Most of them are holding useful appointments and there is no certainty as to how many of them- will, return.” Sir Lindo added that recent legislation had taken its part in shaping graduates’ views.

On their return to New Zealand they would naturally think that if a clerk at the age of 26 must receive £6 10/ for 40 hours, their nine years’ work, involving an outlay of £ISOO, should command something better than a colliery practice, with a gross revenue of £7OO, with considerable professional expenses and work at all hours.

The position with regard to those unattractive practices would be the same if the school graduated 100 men annually.