IMPROVED SURGERY

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LX, Issue 18068, 20 April 1933, Page 10

IMPROVED SURGERY

N.Z. ORATION AT SYDNEY CONGRESS COLLEGE’S USEFUL WORK Two of New Zealand's representatives fit the sixth annual meeting in Sydney of the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons, Sir Louis Barnett, of Dunedin, and Professor F. Gordon Bell, of Otago University, returned to Wellington by t)i<‘ Makura from Sydney on Monday. Sir Louis is vicepresident of the college, and a member of the council representing New Zealand.

Sir Louis explained that, the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons had

made gratifying progress since its formation in Dunedin in February, 1027. It now numbered nearly (51)0 Fellows, of whom over 100 were on the New Zealand register, and the college had done, and was doing, much to raise the standard of surgery, surgical education, and efficiency in hospitals throughout the whole of Australasia. PROFESSOR BELL’S ORATION • At tin’ opening ceremony, presided over by the Governor-General of Australiu. Sir Isaac Isaacs, and attended by a distinguished gathering of lay am! medical guests. Professor Bell had delivered the Syme Oration, the chief address at the congress, choosing for his subject. “Hospital Problems, ” with special reference to the educational factor in hospital organisation.

“A very extensive and splendidly organised 'programme of operations, clinical and pathological demonstraand surgical discussions iit the various Sydney hospitals was carried through without a hitch, and no attending Fellow could have failed to gain much useful and stimulating information. TREATMENT OF CANCER *‘ The. subjects covered a wide field in .both general and special surgery, but the greatest interest was manifested. in those dealing with cancer and its increasingly successful treatment with radium X-rays, the surgery of brain tumors, the advantages and disadvantages of new and old methods oi .inducing anaesthesia, the surgical treatment, of lung diseases, and the surgery of bone diseases. ‘• A contribution from New Zealand that aroused much interest was the annual report of the committee engaged on the collective investigation iV" hydatid disease. It is anticipated that within a year or two full records of 1000 eases of hydatid disease occurring in New Zealand and Australia will'be available for analysis.” ■Sir Louis said that a dignified head fpiarters building situated on ,u magai (icon) site in the heart of Melbourne, would, it was expected, be ready foi occupation in the near future. A sufficient sum of money had already been contributed by Fellows of the college to warrant a start being made, ft was intended, to begin with, to provide accommodation for offices, a post-gradu-ate bureau, lecture rooms, museum, and library! The opening ceremony would probably take place during Melbourne’s centenary celebrations in SUROI FA L ED IrCATIONl r CATION Professor Bell said the oration had dealt at length with the question of surgical education. In brief it was emphasised that a sound training in surgery required a prolonged apprenticeship to senior surgeons in hospitals, the young surgeon at first working under supervision, and then being given an increasing responsibility in operative work as lie became .more experienced.

It was pointed out that in Germany and Scandinavian countries the law prohibited a. man from practising independently as a surgeon till he hud undergone at least another five years’ intensive training in hospital, and under supervision, after gaining his initial qualification to practise. The new research institute connected with the University of Sydney, and which had been built with Rockefeller money, said Professor .Bell, would house the Bosch professors in surgery, medicine, and bacteriology. 11 was being equipped in a remarkable wav as a research' centre, and was likely to prove, of immense benefit, in stirring up a -spirit of research to the advancement of surgery and medicine.