HONORARY SURGEONS

Southland Times, Issue 19434, 24 December 1924, Page 5

HONORARY SURGEONS

AND PUBLIC HOSPITAL PATIKNTS. “The whole subject simply bristles with difficulties,” said Mr Knight (chairman of the Otago Hospital Board) when asked to express an opinion on the Commissioner's finding in connection with the case at Palmerston North Hospital, where an honorary surgeon had declined to operate on a patient. Mr Knight said that a member of the honorary staff was really a servant of the Hospital Board, and he agreed with Mr Page’s finding that the honorary surgeon should not have refused to operate because it was believed that the patient was in a financial position to pay for private treatment. It was recognised that every person within a hospital district was entitled to be admitted, irrespective of means, but preference was given to patienta who could not pay for private medical treatment. Patients before being admitted had to sign a declaration to the effect that they were unable te pay for adequate private medical treatment. Dealing with Mr Page’s suggestion that fees should be increased to cover the full cost of maintenance and treatment in hospitals, Mr Knight emphasised the fact that the cost of maintenance per head for the year ended March 31 last was £4 4/- per week, whilst the maximum fee charged to patients was £3 3/-. Personally, he wai of opinion that the fees should be increased, and that a board should retain the power of remitting the whole or part of fees according te the patient’s financial position. A senior member of the honorary medical staff of the hospital said: "The honorary medical staff are strongly of opinion that patients who are in a position to pay for medical or surgical treatment, and can pay private hospital fees, should not be admitted to' the Dunedin Hospital In special cases where the need for radium or X-ray treatment necessitates the admittance of patients to the hospital, we feel that provision should be made for the admission of such patients by the establishment of private wards in connection with the Public Hospital on the Toronto system, where patienta can pay for treatment by their private medical attendants. If the Government and the public insist on the admission of all patienta, regardless of their financial standing, the result will be that the public hospitals will lose the services of the honorary medical staffs, who will have to be replaced by a few paid whole-time men. This will not be in the interests of the indigent poor, as they will lose their right te the services of many highly-trained specialists. The only other alternative is that the present honorary medical staffs should receive reasonable payment for the time and service which are now freely and readily placed at the disposition of the sick and poor of Otago.”