“BLUE BABY” SURGEON

Otago Daily Times, Issue 26531, 5 August 1947, Page 4

“BLUE BAB Y” SURGEON

OTAGO HOSPITAL BOARD ATTITUDE STATEMENT BY CHAIRMAN The Otago Hospital Board was fully aware of the value of the treatment for “ blue babies ” and the need for the availability of a surgeon trained in that type of work, said the chairman of the board, Dr D. G. McMillan, yesterday, when invited to comment on the report that Dr Alfred Blalock, the wox-ld's leading specialist in the treatment of “ blue babies,” had advised the Hutt Rotary Club that he was willing to permit a New Zealand surgeon to study- the operation under him at the Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore. ' “There is considerable doubt, however, whether there , would be sufficient of this type of surgery in New Zealand to provide a surgeon with enough work, here to remain thoroughly skilled at it,” Dr McMillan added. “It may be better 1 for a specially-trained surgeon to visit the Dominion at regular intervals.” The Otago Hospital Board was obtaining information from the Department of Health on the estimated number of “ blue babies ” born in New Zealand every year, Dr McMillan explained. When all the facts were obtained, mature consideration would be given the subject. The Otago Hospital Board had pioneered the field in neuro-surgery and in psychiatry, and there was no doubt that, if there were sufficient work offering in the treatment of “ blue babies,” the board would not be backward in doing the job.” “We have a number of competent surgeons on our staff, and we have also inquiries from prominent surgeons overseas who wish to come to our city,” Dr McMillan concluded. “A number of these would be quite capable of performing the surgery.”