The Northern Advocate Daily “NORTHLAND FIRST” SATURDAY, MAY 13, 1939. The Maternity “Befefits”

Northern Advocate, 13 May 1939, Page 6

The Northern Advocate Daily “NORTHLAND FIRST”

SATURDAY, MAY 13, 1939. The Maternity “Befefits”

Registered for transmission through the post as a Newspaper

ON Monday, the maternity benefits provided under the Social Security Act will be formally initiated, but the list of doctors who have accepted the contracts offered by the Health Department is so patnetically brief that surely the Minister of Health, the Hon. F. Fraser, is merely deluding himself m claiming that “the maternity benefits have been successfully arranged tor,”’ , . . . , , Certainly the list of maternity hospitals which have accepted the Department's proposals is fairly impressive. About 40 per cent, of private hospitals have fallen into line, but registered nurses appear to be treating the scheme with almost as much indifference as has been shown by the doctors, of whom only 22 out of approximately 900 practitioners have accepted the Government’s terms. Medical attention at confinements, if not always necessary, is certainly highly desirable, and to suggest that 22 doctors throughout New Zealand, however ardent and enthusiastic, are capable of meeting the needs of the expectant mothers in the community, is a sheer perversion of the facts. In the “Advocate’s” opinion, both sides might have got together a good deal more successfully thcin they h&ve us yet done. Kut the fuct thut the fault is not with the doctors alone is shown by the Government’s refusal to modify and adjust its proposals to the slight measure suggested by the medical men of Whangarei and outlying districts, who were quite ready to accept the scheme in principle, and merely wanted to negotiate on points of detail. If the Government's uncompromising attitude in this instance is typical of its negotiations with representatives of the profession as a whole, then it is really not surprising that the scheme at its introduction, from the viewpoint of medical assistance, is something akin to a fiasco. Mr Fraser suggests that many medical men have been browbeaten by their colleagues into declining the contracts, but the B.M.A. has no such iron hold over its members that it can exercise a dictatorship. Mr Fraser also says it is hoped to extend the list. This will certainly have to be done if the scheme is to flourish. In the meantime, the Government would be well advised to consider making cash grants to those who are unable to secure the medical or nursing benefits. This could be done as a temporary measure, without in any way committing the Government to acceptance of the principle. If it does not proffer some such assistance to potential beneficiaries, it will lay itself open to the charge of economising at the expense of the people, who should not be penalised because of a dispute in which they have no direct concern.