DOCTORS AND SERVICE".

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XLV, Issue 14711, 17 September 1918, Page 9

DOCTORS AND SERVICE".

NEEDS OF THE- DOMINION

STUDENTS TO COMPLETE- STUDIES

A Wellington correspondent states :—- --.Many medical men have gone abroad on active .service since Ihe war began, with the result that those who htjA'o been left behind have been -hard pressed m coping with the work m New Zealand. Early m 1917 it was decided by the Cabinet, as a matter of policy, to recommend military service boards to adjourn the appeals of all third-year mediual students, m order to enable them to continue their medical studies at Otago University with .a. view to qualifying as medical practitioners. : With a view to .still further safeguarding the supply of qualified doctors m the future the Government has i-ow agreed to recommend that medical students who have passed the intermediate examination may be retained m the Dominion to complete their studies. Such exemption, liowever, if granted by the military service board, will.be subject lo the condition - that the first professional examination is passed after 36 months' study, or such period m each case as may be approved by the medical 'faculty, lt is further to bo understood that cases of students who -do not work, to the satisfaction .of the medical faculty will lie referred! by the University Council to the. military authorities for review. Students so affected must join the University Officers' Training Corps, and on completion of their studies will be liable ! to two years' duty m the Public Service ] as assistant house surgeons, or m some other medical capacity. Mr J. D. Gray. Secretary of the Recruiting Board, stated tliat* the question of withdrawing medical students from the front to enable to them to complete their studies is now under consideration. In view of the shortage of qualified chemists m the .Dominion at present. due to the fact that so many have joined tho Expeditionary Force, arrangements have been made by which the Pharmacy Board! of New Zealand may appeal on

the ground of public interest for the exemption "of every chemist called up for service by ballot. As tho headquarters of the Pharmacy Boa.rd are m Wellington, all its appeals will be dealt with. by the Wellington Military Service, Board. This decision brings chemists into line with registered dentists, on whose behalf

the. executive of the Dental Association lodges appeals. In addition to any appeal which the Pharmacy Board may lodge on his behalf,, every chemist has, of course, the right to lodgo a personal application for exemption .under p'ection

18 of the Military Service Act. In the case of 'dent-hits, as the headquarters of the Dental Association are m Auckland! all the appeals of the. association are heard by the Auckland Military Service Board. ",