CHAIR OF OBSTETRICS

Taranaki Daily News, 12 August 1930, Page 7

CHAIR OF OBSTETRICS

CHOICE. OF NEW PROFESSOR. NATIONALLY IMPORTANT ISSUE. The question whether applications from Holland and Denmark should bo considered by the Otago University . Council when appointing the new professor of obstetrics and gynaecology is further discussed by Dr. Sydney Allen, of New Plymouth, in a’letter reviewing the statement recently made in Dunedin by Dr. Riley, the retiring lecturer in obstetrics. Dr. Allen writes:— “In my original < letter, to the University Council, I carefully refrained from mentioning any .figures, or introducing controversial matters, I asked the conn--cil solely and simply that, in inviting applications, the choice be not limited to the Empire, but that Holland and Denmark should be given a chance/; I, asked this because these countries hold an outstanding position in obstetric results, and they have a system of education in obstetrics which trains dozens of young men—all highly qualified and trained and suitable, on an educational basis to fill the ditties of professor. . It is neither disputed nor arguable that such a group of possible candidates exists, and it is difficult to understand why. so likely a field should be deliberately or carelessly neglected by the University Council in the search for the best man. available. Is it really the desire of the council to get the best man or is the matter prejudged and .‘the highly qualified Englishman’ of Dr. Riley’s statement the only class of candidate to. be considered?” ' - '• A' series of statistics of maternal mortality was quoted by Dr. Ri- -y skewing over a period of years 4.75 deaths per thousand births in New Zealand, 2.62 in Holland, and 2.76 in Denmark. “Accepting Dr. Riley’s figures,” Dr. Allen continues, “he has demonstrated that obstetric practice in Holland and Denmark gives a 60 per cent, better result than New Zealand. In my opinion/these figures do not justify the conclusion which Dr. Riley draws from them that ‘the. maternal death rate in New Zealand is not much higher than that of other countries, notably Denmark and Holland.’ I maintain that tive results are a reproach to us and we should not complacently submit to a result which is at least 60 per cent; worse than it ought to be. In niy view, it is tragic that' complacency —ah unfounded belief that our results are sufficiently good—allows such a result to be perpetuated. 1 ’ ■ X-— - “It is typical of that attitude of complacency that Dr. Riley should suggest that, the available statistics are not , a fair survey of the position. Much the same argument has been used by Dr. McKibbin, of the Department of Health, in a recently-published report. It is based upon a totally unwarranted implication that the Dutch statistics are not compiled with the same care as those of New Zealand. They are issued by the most noted statistician in the world, Professor Methorst, the Director of the Bureau of International Statistics at the Hague and the Statistician-Gen-eral of the Netherlands. We are not more honest, fair- or scrupulous than the Dutch in compiling our statistics arid our unfavourable position cannot be explained away by criticising the'accuracy of the statistical comparison. “Both Dr. Riley, and Dr. McKibbin have suggested that the New Zealand death rate is increased by absence of medical attention in the back blocks. How many?of our people are in such inaccessibility? In the winter in Holland and Denmark, owing to the isolation caused by the flooding of .the great rn<rs and by the bad weather, there are many spots in those tiny countries where the inhabitants are as effectively isolated as those in our back blocks.

“The superiority of the Dutch and Danish results has been admitted by the University Council itself in its prescription that the successful applicant shall travel for six months before commencing his work. What reason is there to assume that a six months’ course of study will give the same result as the direct importation of the storehouse of the necessary knowledge in person of a Dutch or a Danish professor? Is it not far more likely that the appointee, on account of preconceptions and traditional professional training, would be blind to the excellencies of foreign methods and that, after making an extensive tour, he would return disbelieving what he had been at such pains and expense to gather? New Zealand lately sought advice and guidance upon a question of hydraulic engineering. It did not send a. highly qualified man to study the methods of countries that have special-’ ised in this field, but has engaged an eminent Swedish engineer to deal personally with the problem. In that case there was need for haste and no objection was raised to the appointment of a foreigner. Is there any. less need for haste, any less need for the best possible advice- in this national problem of maternal mortality?” “I have examined all the evidence 1have been able to collect,” Dr. Allen says in conclusion, “and everything has gone in one direction —suggestive that Danish and Dutch methods are superior to our own —a superiority which can ba measured by the admitted superiority of their results. This conclusion was emphatically endorsed,.in his official report last year, by Dr. Jellett, to whom Dr. Riley has himself referred as an acknowledged authority. It is only because of the extreme national importance of the new appointment that I have urged on the University Council to get the widest possible field of choice. In education alone lies the solution .of our maternal mortality problem, and the appointment of a man with stereotyped notions would, mean the stopping of the march of progress in obstetrics during the lifetime of the new professor, No matter how far the arrangements for the new appointment have proceeded, there is still time and opportunity for making the position open to candidates from all countries where likely applicants are available.”