AN OFFER IGNORED

New Zealand Times, Volume XL, Issue 9092, 10 July 1915, Page 8

AN OFFER IGNORED

MINISTER AND DOCTORS ORGANISATION TO ASSIST THE MILITARY. THE MINISTER FOR DEFENCE AND THE MEDICAL.PROFESSION. To the Editor "N.Z. Times.” Sir.—Many medical . men are amazed and puzzled by the attitude of the Hon. James Allen. The medical profession as. a whole has been eager and anxious to play its part in this war, as is amply evidenced by the numbers of doctors who have already given their services to the army. One would think that one of the first things to have been done was to consult the medical profession upon matters that are peculiarly its own- On the contrary,, in New Zealand the profession has been absolutely ignored by the milt tary authorities, and by tbe Ministea for Defence in particular. The doctors expected daily that some proposal for their organisation for assistance •in the present crisis would’ be brought to tiler ,- notice, but after waiting in vain a spe . cial meeting of doctors was convened i ii Wellington of the British Medical Ass< >. ciation, and it was resolved to subm 11 proposals to the Minister with a vie w to assisting the authorities in their pr a. sent predicament. i Twelve days ago a letter was sent :to the Minister with an offer to meet h to discuss the present state of med ical military affairs. One of our propo 'alt. was to provide a sufficient medical t half for supervising and treating the sick soldiers in Wellington and at Berl lampore and Kaiwarra. and at other .temporary hospitals. To this we have . had no reply, -not even an acknowledgi nent. In respect to the past, while ther e are medical officers in New Zealand with active service to their credit, and; who have made a special study of mi Jitary hygiene, their advice has not been taken, nor their services availed of. Ow ing to the regulations these officers ha «d no means of giving expression to , their opinions, or of playing their prope r part. The whole profession, in its ab ility to help, has been restive and perph txed.

Even under the new regime, ii i which the public expected greater latit nde, the conditions so far from improving have inclined in the opposite direction. We pass over the proposal that the/ profession should give its services gratuitously, and the fact that doctors are the only people of whom this is expected, and come to the astounding i.uvelation that Dr Valintine has reported to the Government that if it were ne aessary he is prepared to nationalise the medical service of this country, _ and this without any consultation with tl le Medical Association, which is the onl y body representative of medical opinion in New Zealand.

How can the people expect satisfactory conditions to exist in the ca mp, or that sick soldiers will receive t’ae medical treatment that is their duet, when the authorities so studiously aieoid taking authoritative medical advice from the medical profession itself ?

In justice to the medic.'id profession as a whole, which has inc’rrred censure for matters pertaining to it but over which it has had absolutel y no control, the time has arrived whera these facts should he made public.—l am, etc., H. E. GIBBS. M D., ' Hon Sec. 8.M.A., N.Z. Wellington, July 9th.