Poverty Bay Herald. PUBLISHED EVERY EVENING. GISBORNE, FRIDAY, APRIL 16, 1926. THE MEDICAL COUNCIL.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LII, Issue 17009, 16 April 1926, Page 6

Poverty Bay Herald. PUBLISHED EVERY EVENING. GISBORNE, FRIDAY, APRIL 16, 1926. THE MEDICAL COUNCIL.

There has boon, ol late particularly,; a good deal of criticism of the British ' Medical Council, and its action bolh in general arid in dealing with individual cases. In this regard while the less well-informed readily accept any story to the discredit of the Council, they unfortunately are.apt to overlook the great good work that body is doing for the protection of the public at large. Recently a plea for this work was made in the British House of Commons. Colonel Sinclair, a member of the General Medical Council, who is also a member of Parliament, told the House that he thought'that many of those who had criticised in a ■ hostile sense have not taken the trouble to consider the Council As mode of procedure,' how the cases come, before it, and how members receive and weigh the evidence before arriving at a, decision. He also pointed out that its clemency was much" greater than generally understood, and how those deprived of diplomas are only deprived for* one year, or thereabouts, and if not guilty of further offence are,reinstated, in many " cases, _ within the year. He asserted ..that tho -General Medical .Council docs, not, proceed against osteopaths and •• chiropractors, li -really, chnnop .recognise ! .thenij be.' cause it has >no? moans- of inspecting their skill. It has no means'of understanding or estimating the.nature of the education furnished or the standards of education and examinations which they take.' It is evident, on Iho face of it, that it would not be in the best public interests to take the American diplomas on their face value, because many of these are granted by organisations, some of which are even of a proprietary, nature, and arc not recognised in the United States. It would, indeed, be hazardous to include nil these practitioners-in the general medical registrar, .unless there were some provision made for inspecting the colleges, the nature of the instruction given, and of the examination passed. In England, when the country was flooded some years ago by unqualified dentists, the Dental Act of 1921 was passed, with its penal clauses, for the protection of the public, and Colonel Sinclair has therefore good precedent in urging that, it is right, in the public interests, that there should be an inquiry respecting the persons to practice medicine and surgery, including manipulatvc surgery .’and plastic surge.ry, lest groat damage should be. done to the suffering public by unqualified people carrying out manipulative surgery .with great energy and even rough handling. Practitioners who desire to carry out manipulative surgery, Colonel Sinclair quite properly contends,' should provide a guarantee that they > have .been pro-, perly instructed in the anatomy of the human body, physiology and pathology, so that, they would be able to distinguish those patients to whom, they ought not to apply manipulative surgery and who ought to lie treated by other means. The Council does not place.any vpto on the class of practice which its registered members might adopt; all that it. required was that applicants, to be allowed to' practice, should have been trained in medicine, surgery, and midwifery. Qualified members might practice manipulative surgery, homeopathy, or other forms' of service to the public provided they were able to show that they had graduated at some recognised institution and possessed a thorough knowledge of anatomy, physiology and pathology. “All that we sav is that before any man or woman gets a legal qualification to practice medicine dr surgery, or any system of medicine or surgery, in this country he should have a definite minimum of fundamental knowledge which t-s essential for (ho practice of any system of medicine or surgery,” said Dr. Drummond Shields, M.P., also in the House of Commons. “We are dealing with the human body, and, surely, a complete knowledge of the human body is absolutely necessary for any system of treatment.” Dr. Little, M.P., told the House that it is not the rich who suffer most from unqualified practice, but. the poor, and no one can have served, as he had served, ns a hospital physician for 30 years, without being really saddened at the instances seen of the dreadful state of the poor from the point of view of the unqualified medieal treatment which they had received. “1 refer,” he said, “to the optician who pretends to be nit oculist, to the dentist who is a quack, and who fits new plates upon horribly septic stumps which are poisoning the whole system. It is that kind of unqualified practice the evil of which I think people do not sufficiently realise.” The London Ob: server holds that the debate should help to bring the people and the medical view of some things hito closer accord. “It is much too late in the day to suggest that bone-setting or osteopathy or manipulative surgery, or: whatever we prefer to call it, is an inherently disreputable practice, which an intelligent, community would suppress. Medical spokesmen who. take that, tone and suggest that whatever' is ‘ unqualified surreptitious only lay a heavy handicap upon their own profession. The bone-setter has discovered and done things which the regular surgeon had never been taught and had not the opportunity, or sometimes the iiielination, to learn. The bone-setter is an asset to the art of healing. The public interest is thnt he should be as good as possible at his particular work. It is very important that the bone-setter should have the best preparation and a status and organisation which will be safeguards against malpractice, just as the regulations and etiquette of medical authority help, to mhintnin professional selfrespect and to protect the public, from exploitation.” The Yorkshire Observer is putting, the case very fairly and clearly when it says: “Every instructed man recognises gladly and hopefully the steady progress which medical science, is-making to emancipate itself from. the. quaint theories and surviving quackeries of. other times, and ho will still regard the qualified medical : practitioner-—when, ho is quite sure.that he has fop rut him --as his .first, if not his best friend.’,’

diseases of civilisation. , Though the advance of civilisation lias enabled actuaries to declare that the average duration of human life with succeeding 'generations has materially increased, it , has become only too apparent that civilisation is accompanied with conditions which militate seriously against the accomplishment of greater longevity, and which, in fact, put a serious check upon humnn health and happiness. There is a growing conviction amongst

both the medical fraternity, and laymen tha,t. what are significantly known as ‘Olio diseases of civilisation” must be the prihcipal concern of medical science for many years to come., This opinion, so generallly held, lias led to the ‘ formation of a New Health Society, recently founded in Great Britain by a distinguished company of physicians, scientists, and public, men. The president of this society is Sir William Arbuthnot Lane, one of the foremost surgeons of the day, and a man who has consistently- proclaimed it to be the first duty- of his profession to teach the laws of. health to. the •people. The principal function of the society, it is stated, will bo to translate the laws of health into terms of sunlight, fresh air, aqd proper food. It. is already known that these factors in the sustenance and preservation of healthy human life arc thoso . most vitally necessary for the prevention mid cure of tuberculosis. There Is an increasing consensus of expert opinionthat one of them, that of proper food, is the key to the secret of cancer. The conquest of tuberculosis is in sight. It is a social malady... It thrives in poverty, arid darkness; and it will go when there are no riiorc crowded teno* monks, no more children insufficiently or improperly fed. s The conquest of cancer is to be a more difficult business; but; supli. organisations ■as the New Health Society and such men as fii'r Arbuthnot Lane- are dedicated to the-extirpation of this" human- scourge, arid they arc at least, able to./report progress.- It is significant that cancer .should be noted as a “disease . of; civilisation:'Civilisation, with itk modern hygiene,- its improved sanita*: {.ion y. has• pfdlohgpd human, life.. The, letiriratioritt'-uy the fiiillioris, arid \thiep 'still diminish the expectation of life amongst backward peoples, are held iri resolute check wherever medical science is supported by- public cooperation. But civilisation has bought with its. diseases, and notably cancer, which would seem to have been upknown to primitive man and which are certainly rare, if not non-existent, among savago or barbaric peoples surviving in this age. It is hoped that this, fact will be the clue to cancer. Sir Arbuthnot, Lane believes that'there is something in the diet of civilisation which causes cancer, and if, as there seems reason to believe, he is right, then there are grounds for hope that discovery of the cause will eventually load to knowledge of prevention. THE EDEN SEAT. Tt is no great surprise to find that the Eden seat.has gone to Labor on a ‘ minority vote of the electors of thajt constituency. This became a foregone conclusion when all negotiatioris'failed to eliminate the third candidate, *ri .lady who evidently commands a good doaLof support, in Auckland, and who possesses more than an average amount of feminine ambition and determination. -Miss Melville’s persistency was J stimulated by a sense of injury- arising’ but of the selection-of candidates by the Reform ,party organisation, and her loyalty to the party and to national interests did not seem able to; rise above the real or imaginary- slight. Did not one of the early poets say | something about “a woman scorned?” ■■ At anyrate the 1 lady- candidate will be able to-day to get all the satisfaction she eares out of the defeat of her rival for Reform honors, Sir .Tames Guhsori, but we think the loss is to the ,coun- , try in the exclusion of a native son of I New Zealand who has played a very’ responsible part in the civic life arid ( development of the northern metro- ! polls and who was so well qualified to ' take his share in the wider rosponsi- , bilities of government of the Do- , minion. The successful candidate, ME Mason, appears to be rather above the average standard of Labor aspirant, and should make a useful member, provided he does not. run too wildly to ex* 1 treinos. His election removes doub.t I about the'position of the Labor party as the official Opposition, eliminating the claims of the Liberal remnant, and Mr. Holland will take the,, place hitherto filled by Mr. Wilford on the left benches. His support is not numerous, arid so-Jong .as his party is kept about its present strength, in the cool shades .of opposition,, it is not likely to do much haTm to the country. It is better probably that it should be recognised as the official Opposition than that it should remain without the responsibilities attaching, to that position. It will have 'to furnish justification for whatever opposition it presents to Government measures and becofne a little mbro definite and tangible in its alternative proposals.