T.B. Expert Answers Committee's Findings

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 419, 30 July 1928, Page 16

T.B. Expert Answers Committee's Findings

DR. BLACKMORE’S VIEWS VALUE OF EDUCATION (Special to THE SUN) CHRISTCHURCH, Saturday. The value of education in the campaign against tuberculosis is emphasised by Dr. G. J. Blackmore, director of tuberculosis institutions under the North Canterbury Hospital Board, who maintains that hospital boards should have control of the treatment of cases, that the use of tuberculin prevents relapses, -and that cases cannot be treated as successfully at home as they can be’ in a sanatorium. Dr. Blackmore vigorously criticises the findings of the committee set up by the Government to investigate the treatment of tuberculosis in New Zealand.

One of the committee’s recommendations is for a division of tuberculosis to be established under the control of a director of tuberculosis, who would himself be under the control of the Health Department. Dr. Blackmore favoured action by the joint hospital boards. They had the necessary experience, institutions and equipment for dealing with most diseases.

“Another reason why the boards should take charge of the movement is that neither a Government department nor tuberculosis expert can get rid of tuberculosis,” continued Hr. Blackmore, “fdr any measures to be successful must have the interest and co-operation of the public. This interest and co-operation cannot be obtained otherwise than by education, the most powerful agent we can employ in this campaign. I think that there is no better way to co-operation and education than by getting representatives of the public to run the whole concern and control the spending of the money, which they themselves will have to find.” EMPHATIC DENIAL In urging that the use of tuberculin in sanatoria should be discouraged, the committee added that the use of tuberculin was of doubtful value. “I want to give that an emphatic denial, and I also challenge the qualifications of the men consulted by the committee who have given, that opinion,” said Dr. Blackmore. “I have had experience of the giving of tuberculin for close upon 35 years. I have been responsible for the giving of well over 200,000 injections, I have given fully 140,000 by my own hand, and the rest have been given by my assistants under my supervision.” “So far as I know the bacteriologists who have been consulted have had no experience, or, at any rate, very little, in the giving of tuberculin in the treatment of tuberculosis of the lungs. I am aware that some doctors in other countries do not believe in the use of tuberculin, but I know of no authority who has . mastered the technique of the treatment who does not believe in its efficacy. “In my opinion, although tuberculin is not a cure for tuberculosis, it is the best remedy we possess at present for the treatment of the disease. Not only has ?t a marked effect, if given properly, upon the disease itself, but it has an influence in preventing relapses taking place afterwards. “The committee’s proposal is that someone who knows nothing about the patient should tell the specialist, who knows all about the patient, how the treatment i§ to be carried out. I

wonder what the members of the committee would say if that proposition were put before them in regard to their private practice. THE REAL REASON “The real reason given by the committee for discouraging the use of tuberculin is that it prolongs the stay of patients in the institutions. This simply means that though I believe in the use of tuberculin treatment I am to be discouraged from giving it in order that the patients may be sent out earlier with, as I believe, their disease unarrested, and certainly without having received the treatment which gives them the best prospect of getting well. “The committee is of opinion that Cashmere and Waipiata are not being used to the best advantage. This opinion is apparently based on what I have said about the prolonged stay of patients in yie institutions. Surely the specialist who is responsible for the treatment of the patients should be the one to say how these patients should be treated and when they are in a fit state to be discharged. In regard to the Cashmere Sanatorium not being used to the best advantage—l take in all patients who apply for treatment through their own doctors and deal with them in what I believe to be a satisfactory way.”