MEDICAL RESEARCH

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LXI, 27 July 1927, Page 8

MEDICAL RESEARCH

-■ — OR. GIBBS'S RECENT STATE (WENT COMMENT 'nittOUGMOU'i' NEW ZEALAND The recenl statement on medical re, search made by \)>: S. A. Gibbs, of Nelson, on his return from Canada and Ihe United Slates, has attracted attention throughout New Zealand. Appended are (wo press comments, I'ublic lallenlioii, as a prelude to decisive action, should be aroused by l|„, statement of Dr. Gibbs concerning the urgeuev of research in preventive medicine, 'says the "N.Z. Herald'' (Auckland), ile has returned from his investigating visit to America more than ever convinced of the necessity and possibility of dealing adequately with this mailer in. Ihe Dominion. Last: year, as president of the New Zealand branch of I lie British Medical Association, no emphasised the need. "We spend millions on treating disease/' he llieu said, "and alums! nothing on the only possible way by which these millions and the suffering they represent can _be saved." Now he reopens the subject with an indictment of the comparative futility of sending researchers away to distant countries, when with an insli. tate efficiently organised here, supplemented by an adequate reference library, work of immediate and extensive benefit could be done. The case for preventive medicine needs no argument beyond his trenchant words of last year. The question resolves itself into the practical shape of King Edward's exclamation when presiding at the annual meeting of the hospital fund bearing his name —"lf preventable, why not prevented?" Ways and means ought to be found to give effect to .such a plea. The Travis bequest of £40,000, made recently in Chrislcluirch for the purposes of mecli. cal research, provides a valuable nucleus. There should be prompt action by the Government in establishing a national institute on the lines of Dr. Gibbs' recommendation. As to the scope for its work, there is sorrowfully abundant material in the Dominion, not only in such scourges as cancer and tuberculosis, but also in goitre, diphtheria, diabetes, hydatids and acute rheumatic affections. It is to be Imped that Dr. Gibbs' call fur national action, which he is convinced can be taken at a. cost comparatively small, will have immediate and practical heed. After a. visit, to Canada and the United Slates Dr. S. A. Gibbs, of Nelson, who was president last year of the New Zealand branch of the'.British Medical Association, has returned to the l.)o----miuinon more than ever convinced that New Zealand is a laggard in the matteiof medical 'research, says the "Otago Daily Times" (Dunedin). His observa. lions respecting the need for the provision of facilities for the furtherance of this important work are both very cogent and very timely. He regards the matter in a light that is certainly dit. ferent from that in Iwhich it is viewed by those members of the medical profession in Christchurch who have spoken in pessimistic terms concerning the prospect for advantageous 'utilisation in New Zealand of the generous bequest by Mr W. IF. Travis, of that city, for purposes of'investigation with the object of combating such diseases as cancer and consumption. If the opinion is always allowed to prevail that other countries have such ;i long start of New Zealand in respect of medical research, and such superior resources, that any research effort on our own part must be so feeble in 'Comparison as to be hardly worth tho trouble, then the scientific investigation of disease will never be established on a satisfactory basis in the Dominion. To adopt the "non possumus" attitude *s far more obstructive than helpful. It is not in harmony, moreover, with the ideas of tiie leading medical research institutions iof the Empire. Surely when a rnro. opoirtunity such as that afforded by tiie Travis bequest presents itself tho most should be made of it. There is no sufficient treason to suppose, that effect cannot be given in New Zealand to the terms of the bequest in ;t. way that would be really valuable. The practical interest taken, by Sir Louis Burnett in the establishment of a department of cancer research at O'ago University i?. well known. Writing to one of our contemporaries in Christchurch he has directed attention to the work that, is already being done in research in the University. "1 would like the people of New Zealand,", he writes •• :o . } <t?ow that the Dunedin .Medical School, which, be it remembered, is a. Dominion, not a' local institution, is doing its best, though perforce in frugal fashion, to help not only in. the cancer and tuber, miosis campaigns, but in many other problems of vital importance' to the community—such, for example, as those concerned with goitre, hydatid disease, infantile paralysis, rheumatoid arthritis'. vitamin content of foods and so on. It is to be anticipated that the public will be prepared to accept the assurance of Sir Louis Harnett and others that should the trustees decide to devote any part of the Travis bequest to research work at Otago University, the funds wdl be well invested. .Money ),„„ ionbeen the crying need in connection with tin, lurtheranee of medical research in New Zealand, and if, i„ the consideration, of the possibilities of usinn- )„. quest funds for sued, investigations withi the Dominion the facilities that are 'hered by, and the work that is already being done under the auspices F 1. Otago Medical School are overfiil-S llio.-fclusion.llmt is evitably bo mistaken. '