SOCIALISE FOR DOCTORS

New Zealand Times, Volume XLIV, Issue 10206, 17 February 1919, Page 6

SOCIALISE FOR DOCTORS

■ " ■ "■ ' ♦ LECTURE BY MR T. BRiINDLE. Mr T. Brindle, under the auspices ofj the Wellington Social and Democratic Party, delivered an address on "Socialism for Doctors: A Plea for the Amalgamation of the Medical Service.''' In the course of his speech the speaker said that his criticism would be levelled at the medical service as a system," 'and not nt individuals, as he was aware that there were a number of noble men and women in the medical profession. The medical profession, to. the layman, had been regarded as sacrosanct. The people had been taught to treat it with unquestioned respect as containing some occult power which was beyond the range of ordinary mortals. Tho idea so widely prevalent that behind the institution arc forces which cannot err, was raipidly fading away, and the people were learning that the dominating influence was a monetary one, controlled by ordinary men. The plank in the Labour Party's platform calling for the nationalisation of the medical service had been propounded for years by the Socialist organisations of the world. He compared the position of the men who cleaned the streets and drains, with the profiteerswho clean out the people's pockets, and said that, from the viewpoint of social utility the men who cleaned the cities wore far above the idlers who .plundered the public under the name of "successful business men." Vast sums of money I were spent on the maintenance and treatment of patients after they had become sick. Very little had been spent on the prevention of sickness, which waa the principle of the Socialist movement. Why could not dootoTS beoomo part of the sanitary staff of the City Council P Was there ' any justifiable reason why tho health committee of any City Council could not employ doctors as well as meat inspectors, sanitary inspectors, and dustmenP The only argument brought forward was the old urge that it would destroy personal responsibility, the spirit uf thrift and'.self-help. Yet would any sensible person say that the New Zealand Expeditionary Force, or any other, paid less regard to their health or lost any, initiative for self-help because of the attachment of an Army Medical Corps P Did they know any ; parent that felt loss a man or woman because a doctor paid by the Stato had vxa mined and notified that a child of theirs was suffering from some defect? Instead of feeling ashamed or shirking their responsibility they would feel glad to know and as a consequence take immediate action. It was, ho said, only under Charitable Aid Board sohemes that people were apt to lose their selfrespect and become dilatory in action. The ultimate test of any institution or Industrial enterprise or profession for tnunieipalisation or nationalisation must be utility. The nationalisation of the medical service would mean that the sooial conscience had awakened to the necessity of organisation for health. In the organisation for death, we had spent during tho last four years untold millions—our city streets and peaceful countrysides wero dotted with living wrecks of this great debauch. There was, he said, a better field for tho doctors' skill, a nobler path for the nurses' tender tho provision for an abundant and healthy life for all by using their skill to prevent rather than cure disease.