B.M.A’s Criticism; Reply By Committee

Northern Advocate, 22 July 1938, Page 9

B.M.A’s Criticism; Reply By Committee

i Answering the British Medical Association's contention that there is no need for a universal service while so many people are able to pay lor their own doctor, the National Health and Superannuation Committee states that, in its opinion, few people can with certainty claim that they will, always be able to pay for their own medical services. Even if they could establish tm.ix- claim, if was no more an argument against a universal service than ihe suggestion that because a man can afford to pay for his child's schooling, education should not be free to all. Another objection raised was that the development of friendly societies, and the growth of the public hospital system rendered unnecessary a scheme ox the extent proposed. The committee points out that the friendly society movement covers only about one-fifth of the people of New Zealand, but the extension on a national basis of the principles under which such societies work will mean a marked advance. Worry About Accounts.

It was true that the public hospital system had, in the past, borne some of the burden that would otherwise have had to be carried by the poorer section of the community, but everyone was expected to pay something unless he could show he was indigent or in poor circumstances. Further, many people suffered anxiety over their accounts and this militated against quick recovery. In the committee’s opinion, also, the treatment given in some out-patient departments was not an adequate substitute for the care and attention of the family doctor. No Deterioration of Service. The committee could not believe that adoption of the Government’s proposals would lead to a deterioration of the standard of medical attention—the evidence, in fact, pointed strongly in the opposite direction. The standard of integrity of the medical profession was as high as in any other, and the committee Was satisfied that if doctors were fairly and equitably remunerated they would render the highest possible degree of care and efficiency. It is also pointed out that the doctor, working for a small salary, with nothing to gain but the satisfaction that comes from the knowledge of having done a job well, had frequently given many of the progressive discoveries in medicine. Incentive to Progress, Another suggestion by the B.M.A. that there would be no incentive to progress unless the doctor was not paid by each individual patient was not justified, the committee believed, in view of the outstanding contributions made to medical science by the permanent Army and Navy Medical Corps, the work of the university personnel. who were usually on salary, and the activities of salaried public health officials. The work of the fulltime staffs in a number of public hospitals indicated the keenness and conscientious nature of the medical men apart altogether from his method of remuneration. Class Distinction. Rebutting an assertion that the adoption of a universal scheme would lead to social distinction, the committee believed that the tendency would be in the opposite direction. Under present conditions, it was almost inevitable that the person who could pay most would gel the host service from his doctor. Under the Government’s scheme, the need of the patient would be the measure of the doctor's attention. Earnings of Medical Men. An argument adduced by the B.M.A. that the adoption of the scheme might involve embarrassment to the commitments to medical men presupposed that they would not bo adequately remunerated. Careful analysis of the income of medical men today, alongside the proposals of the Government, was likely to reveal the fact, however, that in a vast majority of cases their remuneration would he in--1 creased more than diminished.