DOCTORS AND PARLIAMENT

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LIII, Issue 15, 20 January 1919, Page 4

DOCTORS AND PARLIAMENT

There was a large and distinguished assembly of the medical profession at Steinway Hall (reports the London Daily Telegraph), when Sir Henry Morris presided over a meeting convened co further the freer’ entry of doctors into Rarliament. The chief purpose of the movement was shown in the resolution moved by Dr*. Addison, -Minister of Reconstruction, which was unanimously agreed to. It ran:—“ That in the interests of national health it is essential that the considered views of the medical profession shall ho voiced by medical men in the House of Cummons.”

Ihe Chairman pointed out that the underlying ideas of those responsible f or meeting was the election, of a committee representative of the whole profession; the seeking out and selection of suitable members who would be willing to stand for Parliament; and the adoption of methods whereby members so chosen would be truly representative of the entire profession. Their object might hav e been secured by sending members from their represen. tative bodies, as the universities, do, but whatever the ultimate form might be, it was necessary that the medical members ’of Parliament should be able to speak for the profession as a whole. In proposing the resolution, Dr. Addison%aid a brief consideration of the facts of our national and social life sufficed to reveal the wealth of opportunity for advice,_ direction, and help that was open to men of the right type and training in matters affecting ,4>he homes of the people, their conditions of work, their wages and hours of labour, in the methods of production, itf draining, invention, and research. No medical a politician in respect of disease or his patient. He was a medical man. But did it therefore follow when th e nation was striving its hardest and required the' very best it could of the life and capabilities of its citizens, that the medical men. as si citizen, had no interest and could take jpo ahgi’e iu its affairs? There was now, and there would be increasingly, a great need forgjthe help of medical men in Parliament and in public work. The necessary specialisation of medical services had led, and, if the best results were to be obtained, must still lead, to the co-operation of more and more of them being required. The combating of the new and- vile methods of warfare introduced bv the Germans, thp diagnosis Of conditions, the surgery and treatment of wounds, the training and equipment of the disabled and especially of that large class of nerve cases which presented such anxious, difficult and important , issues, required the aid of medical and scientific research in manifold directions., An idle person or an incompetent one was a hindrance, and' might be a danger in time of war. He would be just as much so in the time of reconstruction. The C 3 class, and all that it implied, meant that (the nation’s tesponsibiU ties could not end with water supply drainage. tli fc prevention of the spread of infectious diseases, .the adulteration of food, and the like. With the ad vance of knowledge, science, and experience we knew that much could be done :o safeguard the personal well-be-ing of our people beyond what we had hitherto attempted, and in devoting its minds to this purpose he believed thatthe medical profession had a great duty and an unexampled opportunity before it. -