MEDICAL SERVICES

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LXV, Issue 19759, 13 October 1938, Page 5

MEDICAL SERVICES

DENIAL OF SIMILARITY DOMINION AND BRITAIN REPLY TO MR. SAVAGE DR. JAMIESON EXPLAINS (Per Press Association.) WELLINGTON, this day. An emphatic denial was made yesterday by Dr. J. P. S. Jamieson, president of the New Zealand branch of the British Medical Association, of certain statements made by the Prime Minister, the Rt. Hon. M. J. Savage, regarding the Social Security Act, daring his broadcast address from the Town Hall, Auckland, on Tuesday night. "The Prime Minister," said Dr. Jamieson, "in quoting extracts from t.ie statement published in British journals by the British Medical Association regarding the general medical :-orvice for the nation, conveyed the impression that there was a similarity between the New Zealand Government's proposals and those now reeom--1 lendecl by the association in England. "I wish to give an emphatic denial to any such assertion," said Dr. Jamieson. "There is no similarity between the two schemes. The British Medical Association in England has not at any time proposed and does not now propose a partial scheme over the whole population. The association in England, in its report of April 30, 1938, to which no doubt the Prime Minister was referring, urged an extension of the present services in England to include the dependants of insured persons and certain others of like economic status, and has urged that the service for these should be complete. Actual Words Used "The actual words used in the report, which must have escaped the Prime Minister's attention when he vvas reading it, are: "Although the dependants oi the persons at present insured constitute the great majority of those in the same economic class not covered by the existing service. there remain a considerable number of persons not included in the group. Included in this number are persons over 70 in receipt of non-contributory pensions, those in independent business and those in uninsurable occupations with incomes below a certain limit, together with their dependants and the dependants of those in the defence services, who at present receive only maternity benefits. It would be desirable to include these groups in any extended service in order that it may be available to everyone in the economic group with a £250 income limit."

Dr. Jamieson added that it became all the more necessary to correct the Prime Minister's misleading statement of the position because he had already denied the association permission to broadcast its views on the effect which the medical provisions of the Social Security Act will have upon the health of the nation.