THE MEDICAL PROFESSION

Otago Daily Times, Issue 22220, 24 March 1934, Page 12

THE MEDICAL PROFESSION

OVERCROWDING IN NEW ZEALAND SUGGESTION OF RESTRICTION VIEWS OF. WELLINGTON DOCTORS (Special to Daily Times.) WELLINGTON, March 23. A likelihood that the number of students prop&sing to enter the medical profession in New Zealand would have to be limited was mentioned in a press interview this week by Sir Lindo . erguson, dean of the faculty of medicine at the Otago University, who pointed out that already, with the exception of the United States, the Dominion had proportionally more medical practitioners than any other country. " I know they are up against it in Dunedin," remarked a prominent Wellington physician, to whom Sir Lindo's observations were referred. "It is a very difficult problem to know what to do tor aspiring medical students, but, while recognising that the profession tends to become overcrowded, I cannot altogether agree with Sir Lindo's remedy. A student who does well in his first year is not necessarily' the student who is going to show ability in later and more important subjects. Many of those who would be rejected under Sir Lindo's remedy might be a distinct loss to the profession, and, on the other hand, it is a notorious fact that brilliance in passing examinations does not by any means guarantee that the student will become a good doctor. - ' There was also this to be considered, the physician continued, that, supposing a young fellow was determined to become a doctor, he would go elsewhere, either to Australia or to England, if weeded out at Dunedin, if he could manage the finance. Further, it was a question whether Otago had the right to decree that there were sufficient doctors at any particular time. " I am not opposing Sir Lindo's views in that spirit, because it is admitted that we are crowded," the doctor said, " but I do not think it is wise to attempt to dictate to young people what profession they may or may not enter. On the whole, the view is that competitive restriction is not a good plan. I don't say this in a spirit of criticism, but we should not be hasty, and should defer action until a necessity for restriction is positively established. ~ , That the overcrowding of the medical profession in New Zealand was an imminent danger was the impression of an eminent surgeon of the city. He agreed with Sir Lindo that the time was approaching'rapidly when action would have to be taken in some form or other. Quite apart from the fact that students of medicine were coming forward in greater numbers than could be readily absorbed in New Zealand, there, was the fact that during the last 10 years the influx of qualified medical men from overseas who were entitled to practice in the Dominion averaged 15 newcomers annually. Political events in Europe during the last year or two had produced an embarrassment which no one could have anticipated. A large number of medical men. had left Germany because of the situation which had developed there under the present regime. They had only to qualify for a period of one year in Britain before becoming registered medical practitioners. They were then permitted to practise. Many were already contemplating the dominions as suitable countries in which to Pr "Her'e in New Zealand we have no means of excluding a foreign doctor who has qualified in the manner I mentioned, he said. "All that he has to do is to satisfy the Customs here as to his character as a suitable immigrant, and to prove his qualifications. This is a question which is of growing importance, and which is causing some uneasiness in .New Zealand, as elsewhere, among members ot the medical profession. The situation will necessarily become more acute witn the spread through Austria otlicr European countries of the influences which have already driven Jewish medical students out of Germany. In view of Sir Lindo Fergusons.statement that New Zealand's proportion ot medical practitioners to the popu ation was second only to "that of the United States, the following information from the quarterly bulletin of health organisation in the League of Nations Journal is enlightening. The journal for ber, 1933, sets out the proportion ot doctors per head of population of 28 countries as follows :-Umted States o ne doctor for every 789 inhabitants; New Zealand, one for 1000; Norway, one lor 10674 Uruguay, one for 1080; Switzerland? one for 1231; Hungary, one ior 1290; Estonia, one for 1326; Japan, one for 1358; Denmark, one for 1469; England and Wales, one for 1490; Netherlands, one for 1543; Luxemburg, one for 1556; Germany, one for 1552; 1 ranee, one for 1697; Greece, one for 1727; Belgium, one for 2344; Sweden, one tor 2890; Brazil, one for 2958; Bulgaria,one for 3059; Poland, one for 3289; Jugoslavia, one for 3568; Mexico, one tor 4237; Chile, one for 5076; Peru, one tor 7936; Persia, one for 40,000.