OBSTETRICAL TRAINING

Otago Daily Times, Issue 24633, 14 June 1941, Page 8

OBSTETRICAL TRAINING

A very strong case is made in the statement recently issued by the New Zealand Obstetrical and Gynaecological Society for the establishment in the Dominion of an obstetrical hospital additional to the Queen, Mary Maternity Hospital in this,... city. The present position is that, except for the opportunity provided at the Queen Mary Hospital to two graduates a year to receive extra training in this work, there is no hospital in the country in which young doctors can obtain specialist experience, and none at which refresher courses may be taken. The student’s obstetrical experience is necessarily limited. He can —and indeed, must —obtain as house surgeon at a public hospital supplementary practical knowledge in the general branches of surgery and medicine; but he enters practice with his experience of obstetrics limited to theory and the comparatively few cases he has dealt with while taking his medical coiirse. The society’s case for a hospital at which specialist training can be provided is not weakened by the fact that statistics prove beyond doubt that the standard of obstetrical practice is high in New Zealand. As the , statement suggests, the lives of mothers and children must be safeguarded to the limits of scientific practicability. The society has sought to . stress the urgency of this matter, which, however, must be viewed at the present time in relation to the many other . demands confronting New Zealand in a period of emergency. It is ceri tainly desirable that the proposal should be approved in principle, and the Government —to which the society looks to give financial support to the scheme—might well consider making some provision in the Estimates for its realisation. Preliminary planning, as Professor Dawson has said, is all to the good. It isworth considering that a hospital of this nature would be in some part at least self-supporting, since the maternity benefits under Social Security would in the usual way be made available to patients. The Obstetrical Society might be able to assist the Government in planning such an institution by inquiring whether other sources of revenue might not be found. For example, doctors in search of post-graduate and refresher courses in gynaecology are at the present time under the necessity of going abroad at considerable expense to obtain experience. And their specialist training enables them to charge fees additional to the maternity grant. It is perhaps not unreasonable to suggest that if specialist qualifications were made available in New Zealand those doctors wishing to take advantage of the course would themselves be prepared to contribute to the upkeep of the institution, thus lightening its cost to the State and encouraging the Government to act upon a proposal that certainly merits sympathetic attention.

THE WAR AND THE ELECTION The few days of the Parliamentary session this week did not produce any declaration on the part of the Government of its intentions regarding the time at which the general election will be held. A direct challenge by the Leader of the Opposi-tion-for a statement on the subject did not elicit any answer. It is a question concerning which it is desirable that any doubts , that may exist in the minds of the electors should be removed. To most people it must be a repellent suggestion that, at a time when the Empire is engaged in a terrific struggle for its very existence, this Dominion should be the scene of a general election that would divide them into clashing factions. An intimation that the election would be postponed until after the war, or at any rate until the critical stage that has been reached in the war has been passed, would be welcomed by them. They wait in vain for an authoritative statement that would encourage the hope, that they may be spared the infliction of a dissolution of Parliament and an election in present circumstances. Never has it been more necessary than it now is that the people should close their ranks in a united determination to devote all their energies and all their resources to the single object of successfully prosecuting the war. It is most disturbing, therefore, to observe the preparations that are being made by the political parties in the Dominion for an election. It is idle for members and supporters of the Govemnlent to taunt the National Party with organising its forces with a view to a contest at the polls while it is urging the desirability and necessity of political unity. The National Party cannot reasonably be expected to be inactive when it knows, and the whole country knows, that the Socialists are, to the extent of their ability, perfecting their political organisation which, as a matter of fact, never ceases to function. The knowledge that the Labour Party is making its preparations for an election is clearly open to the interpretation that the election will be held this year when it would normally fall due. If it is not to be held, the Government has only to say the word and there must automatically be a suspension of the National Party’s counter preparations. ‘lt cannot be too strongly emphasised that the decision rests with the Government.