MEDICAL EXAMINATIONS.

Taranaki Herald, Volume LXVI, Issue 16038, 24 January 1918, Page 2

MEDICAL EXAMINATIONS.

STATEMENT BY GENERAL HENDERSON. SOME DIFFICULTIES EXPLAINED. PEE PRESS ASSOCIATION. WELLINGTON, Jan. 23. . The following statement regarding the work of Medical Boards, by SurgeonGeneral Henderson, has been made a va ilablc by tho Minister of Defence to-night. The ipedical boards have to deal with all sorts and conditions of recruits, some of " whom, impatient of control under stress and dislike of the examination they have to submit to, are liable to misunderstand and resent necessary questions put to elucidate their physical condition. On the other hand, the medical officers of the recruiting boards have a thankless task, combisyd with the most severe and monotonous work. It is no pleasure to them to have to pass a man as fit when such action means a separation, perhaps for ever, from near and dear ones, with the addition of possibly greater pecuniary sacrifices or, on the other hand, to have to find unfit young and generous youths eager for service, who -cannot understand that a disability which causes little inconvenience in civil life absolutely precludes them taking their part in the great cause. Although such action is in no way to he justified it is quite conceivable that medical officers, in the middle of a hard clay’s work with many more men -waiting to be examined, may occasionally retort in kind to a recruit who delays his- examination and) evades questions put him. Cases may occur in which there have been grounds for complaint, hut it is generally recognised that re- , emits who are about to give their services for their country are entitled) to every courtesy and that everything that can possibly bo done to smooth their progress to becoming soldiers of the Empire should he done. This is my own feeling, and is, I feel sure, the feeling of members of the medical boards, who are „ also making sacrifices of time, comfort, money and health in trying to do their duty by their coifhtry. The public may rest assured that ■ every consideration wilLbe fully extended) to all recruits, and I would like to emphasise the fact that both members of the hoards and myself will welcome bona fide charges preferred by any man subsequent to this day who considers himself aggrieved and will give them the fullest satisfaction in this connection. Men with grievances should he particular in specifying dates,. place, ■ subject, etc., and the full circumstances, andiaddress them to the officer commanding or to tho Adjutant-Director of Medical Services of the district, concerned. There still seems to exist a great deal of misapprehension as to the varying de-cisions-.as to fitness given by medicalboards.' It is pointed out that' medical science is not an exact one, and different medical men may quite legitimately hold different opinions as to the ultimate effects of certain suspected disability. In this connection uiay mentioned that at a leading hospital in England, attended by most eminent physicians, results of post-mortem examinations during a period of a year disclosed something like 10 per. cent, of errors in diagnosis made in the' lifetime of the patients. ( To. secure greater uniformity and as • far‘as possible to ensure that only suitable men are passed in the future, medical officers who are now returned from active service and are familiar with the conditions at the front, are being added to the boards, and no man of the Second Division who lias been classed by a medical hoard as G2 will again be brought up for medical examination.