MAKING MEN FIT

Te Awamutu Courier, Volume 64, Issue 4527, 23 January 1942, Page 5

MAKING MEN FIT

REMEDIAL TREATMENT OF MINOR DEFECTS RECRUITS FOR THE ARMY Progress in the campaign to make men previously rejected because of minor physical defects fit for military service was reviewed on Wednesday by the Minister of Health, Mr Nordmeyer. He said that the cases of nearly 8000 such men had been reconsidered, and that over 3000 had received remedial treatment. Over 1100 were found to have ‘recovered good health when re-examined. “Doctors and hospitals are co-oper-ating splendidly,” said Mr Nordmeyer, “and of the 11,749 cases that have so far come under review by medical boards, only 347, or about 3 per cent., are still to be dealt with, and only 48 or about .4 per cent of the 3272 recommended for hospital treatment have not yet been admitted. Much more has been done than the public realises, and in no case that I am aware of has lack of hospital accommodation or shortage of medical men held up this very necessary work. AU public hospitals have been instructed to give these cases priority. PROCEDURE AT PRESENT “At present only certain relatively minor conditions are being treated, with a considerable degree of success. The procedure is for the regional deputy to go through the files of all men in his area that have been classified as grade IA or II and select those that he thinks might respond to remedial treatment and who would, at the termination of that treatment, be likely to be classed as fit for active service in any part of the world. These men are then examined personally by the whole medical board. If there is any disagreement among members of the board, the case is not proceeded with, but where the board unanimously recommends treatment the man is admitted to hospital without delay but not before he is re-examined and his file thoroughly reconsidered by the regional deputy. Most hospitals, especially in the larger centres, are now restricting civilian admissions to urgent cases and all have set aside a number of beds for this and other emergency purposes. “Up to the present 11,749 files have been examined by regional deputies, who selected 7544 for further consideration. When these men came before medical boards again, 1123 were regraded “I” without treatment and were immediately made available for military service. Of the balance 3488 were recommended for remedial treatment and 1975 were not recommended, leaving 347 still to be dealt with by medical boards and 611 (all volunteers) who failed to attend for re-ex-amination. The enlistments of these 611 were cancelled and their names reported to the Director of National Service for inclusion in the reserve in order that they should be called tip' by ballot. CASES FOR TREATMENT “The total of 3488 recommended for Remedial treatment was cut down to 3272 by regional deputies, and these men were then dealt with in the following manner : Received inpatient treatment .... 1672 Received outpatient treatment 1442 Now under treatment.— Inpatients 83 Outpatients 97 Failed to report and now under action by the Army 110 Not yet dealt with 48 Total ... 3452 (This total is larger than the total number of men involved, as some received both in and outpatient treatment). “It is not possible to give a complete picture of the results of these steps. In addition to the 1123 regraded ‘l’ on re-examination, 1245 emerged as completely fit after treatment, so that 2548 extra men have been made available for overseas service in this manner. A larger number of men were classed as fit for home defence and posted to the Territorial Force, blit the exact number of these cannot be given without going through a large number of individual files. There is no doubt, however, that a high proportion of the men treated so far have been lifted out of the class of military unusables.”